Abbott Asks Top Court to Remove Democratic Leader

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday asked the state's highest court to remove the Democratic House leader from office, escalating efforts to end the holdout that is blocking redrawn US House maps sought by President Trump.

• Bypassing lower courts, Abbott filed a rare emergency petition straight to the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court just three days into a walkout by Democrats. It hinges on a legal theory that even some Republicans have acknowledged is untested, arguing that absent legislators have effectively forfeited their seats by not returning to the Texas Capitol, the AP reports. "Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans, and there must be consequences," Abbott said

• The move intensifies Republicans' attempts to compel dozens of Democrats back to Texas, including signing civil arrest warrants and mobilizing state troopers. US Sen. John Cornyn asked the FBI earlier Tuesday to help find and arrest Democrats, and Trump later told reporters that federal agents "may have to" get involved, though he did not elaborate.
• The lawsuit from Abbott, a former state Supreme Court justice, seeks the removal of state House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Gene Wu, who is one of dozens of members of his caucus staying in Chicago. The governor asked the court to respond by Thursday.
• Wu, a former prosecutor in Houston, said leaving Texas to halt the maps was not "an abandonment of my office" but a fulfillment of his oath to abide by the Constitution, the Texas Tribune reports. "Unable to defend his corrupt agenda on its merits, Greg Abbott now desperately seeks to silence my dissent by removing a duly-elected official from office," he said.
• Critics say the removal effort is on weak legal ground. "I am aware of absolutely no authority that says breaking quorum is the same as the intent to abandon a seat," Charles "Rocky" Rhodes, a constitutional law expert at the University of Missouri law school, tells the Tribune. "That would require the courts extending the premise to the breaking point. It's inconsistent with the very text of the Texas Constitution."

• By leaving Texas for Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, the Democrats prevented the 150-member state House of Representatives from reaching a quorum for a scheduled vote on the new US House voting map. Trump hopes to pick up five Republican seats from Texas in 2026.
• Republicans hold an 88-62 majority in the House, and the Texas Constitution requires at least 100 members be present to do business. With at least 51 Democrats absent, the House failed to reach a quorum Monday and again Tuesday. The current special session ends Aug. 20 but Abbott can keep calling lawmakers back to the Capitol to pass the redistricting bill.
• Democratic governors including California Gov. Gavin Newsom are threatening to "fight fire with fire." Abbott says the threats are "crazy bluster."