Attorney General Ken Paxton issued the following statement in response to the radical Democrat members of the Texas House of Representatives who fled the state to break quorum.
“Instead of showing up to work and doing the jobs they were elected to do, House Democrat members have fled the state in a cowardly desertion of their responsibilities as elected officials. These jet-setting runaways abandoned Texas, abdicated their duties in the House, and sacrificed their constituents for a publicity stunt,” said Attorney General Paxton. “I am prepared to do everything in my power to hold them accountable because these liberal lawmakers are not above the law. It’s imperative that they be swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law for turning their backs on the people of Texas.”
In 2021, Attorney General Paxton's office successfully secured a Texas Supreme Court ruling that held that the House could arrest absent members to secure their presence and establish a quorum. That ruling helped create the current legal framework, which allows for rogue lawmakers to be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol. Attorney General Paxton will continue to use every legal tool at his disposal to enforce the law and stop the radical lawmakers from ignoring their duty to the people of Texas and breaking quorum.
To read the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in the 2021 case, click here.