Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court seeking to declare 13 Texas House seats vacant, alleging the Democratic legislators have been unlawfully absent from the state in violation of a return deadline set by House Speaker Dustin Burrows.
Paxton said the lawmakers failed to return to Texas and the House chamber, instead remaining out of state in what he called “politically motivated grandstanding.” The petition focuses on 13 members who made public statements confirming they would not return, which Paxton’s office says supports the legal action.
"The rogue Democrat legislators who fled the state have abandoned their duties, leaving their seats vacant,” said Attorney General Paxton. “These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold. Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business of Texas must go on. I have asked the Texas Supreme Court to declare what has been clear from the beginning: that the runaway members have officially vacated their offices in the Texas House.”
State law allows the attorney general to represent Texas in quo warranto cases and to appear before the Supreme Court in matters where the state has a direct interest, according to the filing.
The petition states: “The Texas Constitution, statutes, and rules provide a broad range of tools for members of a legislative minority to be heard. But those tools do not include concerted effort by members of the minority to disrupt the functioning of the Legislature by abdicating their duties, including spurning the constitutional authority of the remaining members to compel their attendance. When members of the Legislature disregard arrest warrants, refuse to perform their duties, and announce that they intend to prevent the Legislature from exercising its constitutional responsibilities, they have, through words and conduct, demonstrated an intent to relinquish and abandon their offices.”
Paxton and Burrows also moved to enforce arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers in other states. Separately, Paxton’s office has opened an investigation into Powered by People and Texas Majority PAC, alleging they may have operated an illegal scheme to influence Democrats to break quorum.