More than 50 Texas House Democrats have been out of state for four days, halting the legislative process and blocking the quorum needed to vote on a Republican-backed redistricting plan.
In response, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, and Attorney General Ken Paxton are turning up the heat—threatening legal action and seeking federal help to bring the lawmakers back.
Civil warrants issued, but limited in power
Speaker Burrows has signed civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats. However, these warrants are only enforceable within Texas borders, limiting their impact.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Paxton has stated his intention to ask a court to declare the Democratic seats vacant—raising eyebrows among legal scholars and constitutional experts.
Can the seats be vacated?
According to Professor Mark Jones, a political science expert at Rice University, the idea of declaring seats vacant doesn’t align with the state’s founding legal document.
“In regard to the governor and the attorney general’s position that they can vacate these seats, That’s nowhere in the Texas Constitution,” Jones said.
He noted that the Texas House can only remove a member by a two-thirds vote, a threshold Republicans currently can’t meet without Democratic presence.
Partisan gerrymandering: Legal, but controversial
The redistricting maps at the heart of the standoff are under fire for favoring Republican candidates and allegedly diminishing the influence of Black and Latino voters.
Former President Trump has openly expressed interest in gaining five additional House seats—something the new district lines could potentially help accomplish.
“One thing is clear, is that the Supreme court has ruled that partisan gerrymandering which is Republicans are engaged in here, is perfectly legal, perfectly constitutional” Jones explained.
FBI involvement?
Republican Senator John Cornyn has called for the FBI’s assistance in tracking down the Democrats—an unusual and largely symbolic move.
“Normally one would say the FBI has no jurisdiction in this matter. It’s a civil issue in Texas,” said Jones.
A rare move in redistricting
While redistricting is constitutionally allowed, it traditionally only occurs once per decade following the census, and typically by court order.
Jones warns this accelerated effort could set a disruptive precedent:
“This breaks that norm. So taken to an extreme, we could start to see a process of redistricting, if not after every election, at least multiple times during a decade. This would be both chaotic from a legislative perspective and it would be bad for voters. They would increasingly not know in which district they live, nor who their member of Congress is.”
What happens next?
The move by Democrats has paused the process and drawn national attention—but it may not stop redistricting altogether.
“All Democrats are doing right now is delaying the inevitable. However, they are delaying it, and they are shining a bright spotlight on it that is drawing nationwide attention,” Jones said. “But, in terms of actually stopping the law, they really have limited ability to do it. And I suspect that they will be back providing quorum for the second special session, and this bill will become law at some point in September.”