AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking a California court to recognize civil warrants issued in Texas calling for the arrest and return of House Democrats that left the state to break quorum and prevent a vote on redrawn congressional maps.

“Texans are fed up with lawmakers who refuse to do their jobs and instead run away to states like California to exploit radical governors’ broken political systems as a shield,” Paxton said. “Gavin Newsom may be comfortable with lawlessness and the protection of corrupt legislators, but Texas will not tolerate elected officials who defy the Constitution for political theater.”

The Texas House again failed to reach a quorum Saturday morning.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Dustin Burrows signed civil warrants for the arrest of Democrats that left the state. Paxton and Burrows filed a similar petition in Illinois this week calling on courts there to help enforce the warrants across state lines.

“The Texas House stands ready to conduct the work expected of us by our constituents, but until the absent members return, our state will continue to do without critical disaster relief and solutions for a more prepared and resilient Texas,” Burrows said. “This political game holding up our efforts has gone on long enough. All members will eventually have to come back, but the business before the House is too important to wait on the outside political influences pushing these members to delay the inevitable. Working with Attorney General Paxton, I will continue taking all necessary actions to bring these members back to fulfill their obligations to the legislative process and the people of our state.”

Paxton lawsuits and investigations

The filings in California and Illinois aren’t the only moves Paxton has made against Democrats that left the state.

On Friday, the attorney general petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to remove representatives that left the state.

Paxton is also investigating two political action committees he’s accused of bribing house members to leave the state.

One PAC is Powered by People, which is ran by former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke. The pair exchanged lawsuits Friday.

The second PAC is the Texas Majority PAC which is heavily funded by George Soros.

Threats to arrest Texas Democrats

The backstory:

Texas Republican leaders have threatened to have the quorum breakers arrested, even requesting aid from agencies outside the state in the effort. 

Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to begin the effort starting Monday, saying the Democrats were “holding hostage critical legislation.”

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, seeing the difficulty in Texas DPS carrying out arrests outside the state, called on the FBI Tuesday to assist in the effort with a letter to Director Kash Patel. Cornyn expressed concern that the lawmakers had committed crimes in their “rush to avoid their constitutional responsibilities,” saying they need to be fully investigated. 

House Speaker Dustin Burrows urged the “no shows” to return and said he would sign arrest warrants for those who do not. According to the Texas Tribune, these warrants would be largely symbolic as they would only apply within state lines. 

Texas redistricting effort

AUSTIN, TEXAS – AUGUST 06: A newly proposed U.S. Congressional District map is seen as the Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting meets to hear invited testimony on Congressional plan C2308 at the Texas State Capitol on August 6, 202

Dig deeper:

The newly proposed map increases the number of congressional districts that would have voted for Trump by at least 10 percentage points by five.

Republicans currently control 25 of the state’s 38 Congressional districts.

The new map makes some big changes in North Texas. It moves Democrat Rep. Marc Veasey’s district from Tarrant to Dallas County, Democrat Rep. Julie Johnson’s district moves from Dallas and Collin County to more conservative sections of East Texas, and Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas seat becomes one of just two majority Black districts in the entire state.

The Democrats claim the redrawn maps will violate the federal Voting Rights Act, but that may be difficult for them to prove.

In Central Texas, Democrats Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett would find their districts vastly different from the current map.

The district currently held by Casar would no longer include Travis County, while the district held by Doggett would no longer include a portion of Williamson County.

In Houston, the new map reshapes four currently Democrat-held districts. The biggest change to the districts would be in the seat currently held by Rep. Al Green. The new map would shift the district from covering southern Harris County and instead move it to the eastern part of the county.