The Brief
Republican state leadership is increasing pressure on Democrats who have left Texas to break a quorum.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows is withholding 30% of each absent member's budget.
AG Paxton has asked the state Supreme Court to begin the process of vacating the seats of at least 13 lawmakers.
AUSTIN - The redistricting fight boiled over Friday, with Republican state leadership turning up the heat on the Texas Democratic House members in an attempt to compel them back to work.
But Friday night, those Democrats remain defiant.
Texas GOP ramps up redistricting fight
As the lower chamber remained at a standstill on Friday, Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced new sanctions against the more than 50 Democrats who remain out of state, stalling the GOP redistricting push.
Burrows said 30 percent of each quorum-breaking member’s budget will be reserved and unavailable for expenditure.
Attorney General Ken Paxton took a more drastic approach, asking the state Supreme Court to begin the process of vacating at least 13 of the absent lawmaker's seats.
This would include that of Rep. Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie), who spoke with FOX 4 over Zoom from Illinois. Turner says he and his colleagues remain undeterred, and will continue to fight against what they call "extreme agendas" like gerrymandering. Turner says he has no plans to return to Texas for the time being.
That's also the plan for Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democrat Caucus chair. Gov. Greg Abbott called him the derelict Democrats’ "ringleader."
Abbott has asked the Texas Supreme Court to oust the Houston Democrat from office. Wu had until Friday afternoon to file a written response with the court. He did, attempting to shrug it all off.
Democrats say they're unshaken
What they're saying
"We know the law is very black and white on what they're allowed to do, and the fact that these proceedings are not constitutional," Wu said.
FOX 4 hasn't heard from the high court yet, though legal scholars say it's a complicated process to remove an elected official from office, and time is of the essence.
"He's arguing there's been an abandonment. His own office has said that requires a trial about all the relevant facts, so that would take a long time to do. So it's a stretch," said constitutional lawyer David Coale.
The attorney says it's a stretch the justices may not even want a part of.
"I suspect what the Supreme Court is going to do, after thinking about these filings they get, is to say something like what Mr. Paxton said in his own impeachment case: this is a voter issue. If the voters don't like this, out these people go," Coale said.
What's next
The House will try once again to reconvene on Monday.
If the Democrats keep stalling and run out the clock on this special session, Abbott has vowed to call another.
The Source
Information in this article came from FOX 4 interviews with Texas Democratic leaders.
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