Texas Supreme Court to weigh future of no-show lawmakers

The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Rep. Gene Wu, the head of the Texas House’s Democratic Caucus, to respond by Friday to an emergency petition from the governor. Gov. Greg Abbott submitted the petition earlier on Tuesday, asking the court to remove Wu from office. Wu willfully abandoned his office and broke bribery laws by raising funds to cover House fines for his absence, according to the governor’s petition.

Wu and nearly 60 other Democratic representatives left the state on Sunday to prevent the Texas House from passing a new redistricting plan that could net Republicans five more U.S. House seats. They said they didn’t plan to return until after the special legislative session ended. The Texas House on Monday voted to issue civil arrest warrants for the absent members, but the warrants only apply within state lines.

Wu said he was fulfilling his constitutional duty by opposing a racist gerrymandering plan, according to a statement he reposted on social media.

Are federal agencies getting involved? U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Tuesday asked FBI head Kash Patel to locate the absent legislators and investigate whether they broke bribery laws. Cornyn urged Patel to intervene before the special legislative session ends in about two weeks.

What’s the case for Texas’ congressional redistricting? In a hearing Aug. 1., before the other representatives fled, state Rep. Todd Hunter presented his redistricting bill. First, congressional districts must all represent the same number of people, he said. He said that political performance was a consideration in drawing the districts, referencing the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling that cases about partisan gerrymandering were beyond the reach of the federal courts. Although the redrawn districts trend Republican in terms of political performance, it’s no guarantee that candidates will win, he said.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 protects minority voting rights, but four out of the five newly-drawn districts are majority Hispanic, he said. Finally, he also cited a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court last year that separate minority groups cannon join in coalitions to claim their votes are being diluted.

Dig deeper: Read my previous report on the issuance of civil arrest warrants for the absent Democratic legislators.