A judge in Illinois on Wednesday denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to enforce civil arrest warrants for the absent Texas House Democrats trying to stop a redistricting effort that could net Republicans five seats in the US House.
Judge Scott Larson of the Eighth Circuit Court of Illinois wrote that his court did not have the jurisdiction to do what Paxton sought – as many Democrats and legal experts predicted when Paxton filed his motion.
“As the petitioner has failed to present a legal basis for the court to obtain subject matter jurisdiction over this cause of action, this court is without jurisdiction to grant petitioner’s emergency motion to rule on pleadings,” Larson wrote in an order filed Wednesday. “As the court does not find that it has subject matter jurisdiction, this court does not consider the issues of personal jurisdiction, venue or the merits of the underlying petition for rule to show cause or the request to issue a rule to show cause upon the respondents.”
Last week, Paxton asked the Illinois court to enforce civil arrest warrants that were signed by Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows. Dozens of Texas House Democrats have camped out in Illinois as they try to block redistricting from moving forward.
In his order, Larson said the court “does not have the inherent power to direct Illinois law enforcement officers, or to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, or any officer appointed by her, to execute Texas civil Quorum Warrants upon nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois.”
Larson also noted that the civil arrest warrants are “geographically limited” and directs the sergeant at arms of the Texas House of Representatives to handle any arrests.
Paxton’s legal maneuver in Illinois was one of many pressure tactics the Texas GOP has used to try to get the absent House Democrats back to the state. He filed a similar request in California after several Texas House Democrats appeared in the state with California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The Texas Supreme Court this week declined to immediately rule on another maneuver from Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott to remove from office some of the lawmakers who fled Texas. The court set a September 4 deadline for responses from both sides, suggesting its ruling would be weeks away.
Texas Democrats appear to have stopped the GOP-drawn US House maps from passing in a 30-day special session. Abbott has said he intends to call a new special session on Friday, with Burrows telling lawmakers they should be ready to immediately convene and plan to work through the weekend.
It’s unclear how long state House Democrats will stay away from Texas. State Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic caucus chair, told reporters in Illinois on Thursday that he felt their walkout had helped inspire California and other Democrat-led states to respond with their own efforts to redraw maps in retaliation to Texas.
“When we first started this journey, we talked about the fact that eventually they still might pass these maps – but we’re going to do everything we can to one, wake up America, to try to reignite the fire that is the American people, for us to fight again for what we believe in and what we want,” Wu said.
CNN’s David Wright contributed to this report.
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