Texas Supreme Court rejects request to remove Democratic legislators who fled state in protest of new electoral map

The Texas Supreme Court rejected Lone Star State Gov. Greg Abbott's attempt to remove all Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to delay at least the approval of the new electoral map that would likely give five new seats to Republicans ahead of the midterms.

The ruling by the court judges, all of whom lean conservative, is a setback for Abbott, who had filed a lawsuit directly with the state's highest civil court that state Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic minority leader, had in fact abandoned his post along with other colleagues, and was thus seeking his removal.

Wu argued that he never abandoned his post during the interruption due to lack of quorum, but was exercising his right to dissent.

Court finds that Texis Legislature settled the issue

In the brief for the ruling, signed by Justice James Blacklock, the court noted that the Republican-majority Legislature had already adequately resolved the problem with measures such as fines for the missing lawmakers, and highlighted the fact that the runaway representatives eventually returned under their own volition within weeks.

"In the end, a quorum was restored in two weeks’ time, without judicial intervention, by the interplay of political and practical forces. Courts have uniformly recognized that it is not their role to resolve disputes between the other two branches that those branches can resolve for themselves," he wrote.

However, the justices warned that if something similar were to happen again and the legislative branch were unable to effectively compel lawmakers to return, the court could rule to intervene, according to the opinion.

Democrats taunt Abbott after learning of the ruling

Immediately upon learning of the ruling, a defiant Wu taunted the Texas governor. "When Greg Abbott threatened to arrest and expel us for denying him a quorum, we told him he should 'come and take it.' He tried! ... Abbott was wrong, weak and after all his bluster he couldn't come and take a damn thing."

The tone was shared by the Texas House Democrats, with a post on X saying "we're still here" and "we're not going anywhere."