Illinois judge rejects Texas legislature lawsuit over absconding Dems

By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – An Illinois judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas against 33 House Democrats who absconded from the state to stop legislative proceedings.

The lawsuit was filed in the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Adams County, Illinois. It asked the court to hold the Democrats in contempt and to domesticate Texas warrants, allowing for absconding Democrats to be arrested and brought back to Texas.

It was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Illinois state Sen. Jil Walker Tracy, R-Quincy, The Center Square reported.

Judge Scott Larson said in a Wednesday ruling that Paxton had “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.

“This 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.”

Larson also said that Illinois courts can’t determine whether “foreign legislators” willfully abscond from their duties and cannot direct Illinois law enforcement to execute civil quorum warrants upon “nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois.”

Paxton and House Speaker Dustin Burrows haven’t issued a statement in response and didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Texas’ lawsuit disagrees, arguing the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution establishes the doctrine of comity between states. “This Court must give full faith and credit to warrants duly issued by the Texas House of Representatives that compel these civil servants to return to Texas and to their civic responsibilities,” the lawsuit states.

In this case, Texas asked the court to issue an order “to effectuate the Quorum Warrants, just as if they were acts of the State of Illinois,” treating Texas’ Quorum Warrants “as its own civil order.” It also asked the court to “issue a rule to show cause why Respondents should not be held in contempt,” to initiate contempt proceedings against Texas Democrats “for unlawfully seeking to evade Texas’s duly issued Quorum Warrants,” and set a hearing as soon as possible. If it didn’t, “Texas is threatened with immediate and irreparable harm,” the lawsuit argues.

It is unclear if Texas will appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. If it did, and the court ruled against Texas, Texas could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, The Center Square reported.

More than 50 House Democrats fled the state to avoid being arrested in Texas after breaking quorum and stopping House proceedings during a special session. The House is scheduled to convene on Friday. If the House Democrats don’t show up, then both the House and Senate will adjourn sine die and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will immediately call a second legislative session.

After blocking a Hill Country relief package that was scheduled for a vote in the House on Tuesday, House Democrats said they may return after the first special session was over, The Center Square reported.

Those “who left the state to prevent a vote on new congressional maps will return to Texas, feeling they have accomplished their mission of killing the first special session, raising awareness and sparking national backlash about the mid-decade redistricting,” the House Democratic Caucus said.

Abbott has said he will call special session after special session until the legislature passes bills on the call for the session.

He also said Texas Democrats “mailing their ‘demands’ … FROM CHICAGO” is “embarrassing.” He told them to “Come back and fight like Texans rather than running and hiding like cowards.”