Titular
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton seeks to cancel 13 seats from the Texas Representatives Chamber belonging to Democrats who fled the State last weekend in protest of a controversial vote of electoral redistribution that will benefit the Republican Party, presenting a lawsuit that marks the most recent attempt to press the Democrats to return to Texas and restore the quorum.
Key facts
Paxton, who filed the lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Texas, described the “cowardly” Democrats in a statement, claiming that their absence in the House of Representatives of Texas “sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they made to respect it.”
The lawsuit argues that Democrats’s decision not to attend vote demonstrates “an intention to resign and abandon their positions.”
Although the lawsuit applies to 13 seats from the Texas Chamber, more than 50 Democrats have abandoned the State to prevent Republican legislators from voting on electoral redistribution, which could give the Republican Party another five seats in the House of Representatives of the United States. UU., Thus expanding its narrow majority in the Chamber.
Paxton’s demand comes just a few days after the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, presented a similar request requesting the Supreme Court of Texas to declare that state representative Gene Wu, president of the Chamber of the Chamber, has lost his position for leaving Texas.
Forbes He has contacted the Democratic Caucus of the Texas Chamber to obtain comments.
Lee: Governor of Texas wants to expel the Democrats who abandoned the State, can it do it legally?
Will Paxton and Abbott’s demands succeed in court to dismiss Democrats?
Possibly, although there are some obstacles. The Texas Supreme Court is fully made up of nine Republican judges, some designated by Abbott. The president of the court, Jimmy Blacklock, was Abbott’s general lawyer. However, in an opinion issued in 2021, Blacklock pointed out that the Texas Constitution “does allow a minority faction to break the quorum”, which means that the actions of the Democrats to block the vote could be legal, although it also stressed that the Constitution authorizes to sanction legislators to force their assistance. It is unlikely that the rupture of the quorum by the Democrats implies the intention of leaving a seat, said Charles “Rocky” Rhodes, an expert in constitutional law of the University of Missouri, in the middle The Texas Tribune.
What must be observed
A law that allows Paxton and local district prosecutors to request the court to dismiss legislators states that, provided there is “probable cause” to challenge the position of a legislator, it will be the local judges who decide if they are expelled from the legislative body. This means that vacating his seats could become a long process, and Paxton pointed out in a podcast with the right -wing podcaster Benny Johnson that “we would have to go through the judicial process and present … cases in districts that are not friendly to the Republicans.”
Key history
In addition to the legal demands, the Texas authorities have issued arrest orders for the Democrats who abandoned the State, although the orders are largely symbolic since they only apply within the state borders. Senator John Cornyn, Republican by Texas, urged FBI to help in the arrest or location of Democratic legislators, claiming that “they could be guilty of bribery or other crimes of public corruption.” Democrats face fines of 500 dollars per day while remaining out of the State, which has led Republicans to suggest bribery charges for donations used to pay fines or travel expenses. Accusations made by Republicans may not sustain themselves. The political lawyer Andrew Cates told Forbes that “the idea of a group supporting Texas Democrats together or individually, simply supporting them with funds, is not inherently illegal.” Texas’s law also requires “direct evidence” of a bribery agreement to prove the accusation. In addition, it should be clear that an official’s actions would not have been carried out if they did not receive a bribe. It is not clear when the Democrats will return to Texas. They will need to stay out of the State until November to fully block the vote on the redistribution of districts of the Congress.
This article was originally published by Forbes US
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