The Supreme Court of the Great State of Texas dealt a righteous and savage blow to Democratic lawmakers who have flouted their state’s laws for months in their seemingly endless quest to thwart Republicans’ efforts to secure the election system. The Democratic legislators who have been behaving more akin to kindergarteners (though you’re pressed to find five-year-olds hopping into a boozy bus and flying to Washington, D.C.), petitioned the high court to restore funding to the legislature which Governor Greg Abbott revoked due to their dereliction of duty. Abbott had used his line-item veto power to strip the provision from the budget, leaving the inoperative legislature, denied a quorum by the fatuous, clout-chasing bunch of leftists, without any funding at all… most especially for their paychecks.
The court denied the lawmaker’s request declaring that the controversy isn’t between the Executive branch in the person of the Governor and the Legislature, two co-equal branches of the State Government, but is rather between the Republican majority and Democrat minority in the legislature. Therefore, it is an internal matter which cannot be dictatorially settled by the court, The Texas Constitution (as does any other State’ or the US Constitution for that matter) forbids this. Simply, it is outside of the court’s purview to settle a dispute between the parties.
The Texas Supreme Court Isn’t Playing This Game
According to The Daily Wire, the court wrote,
“While in the District of Columbia, Democratic House members have met with members of the Biden administration and Congress to urge passage of federal legislation on voting and have held public meetings to draw attention to their cause. They have publicly stated that the importance of defeating the Republican-supported elections bill justified their departure from Texas and breaking quorum even though it also prevented the Texas House from restoring Article X funding. They have not returned to the House to allow it to continue business. The Republican House members, for their part, have insisted that the House pass the elections bill and perhaps other legislative priorities before addressing Article X funding. The special session expired on August 6.”
“These public statements and events make it clear that the subject of the petition for writ of mandamus — the lack of Article X funding for the Legislature — continues to exist not because of a dispute between the Governor and the Legislature, nor even because of one between the Governor and a minority of House members. Rather, the principal dispute is among the members of the Legislature,” the court continued.
“Although the Governor certainly seeks to advance legislation he favors, the majority of the members of the Legislature support the same legislation. Relator House members oppose that legislation and have broken quorum to further their opposition,” the court said. “It appears from the record of the special session that they could have restored Article X funding for the Legislature had they been present to vote to do so. They have chosen to continue to absent themselves in order to prevent passage of voting legislation. The legislative majority could have chosen to restore Article X funding before taking up the legislation the Governor favors. They have chosen not to do so.”
“This political dispute within the legislative branch is not an issue of separation of powers that we can decide,” the court continued. “For these reasons, the petition for writ of mandamus is DENIED.”
Arrests Are Coming For Errant Democrats
In the hours since the ruling, the Texas Tribune has reported that a second ruling overturned a lower court’s order which kept the Democrats from being arrested. The Speaker of The Texas House Dade Phelan and Gov. Abbott can now order the arrest of all 52 quorum-hopping legislators and compel their attendance.
“The Supreme Court of Texas swiftly rejected this dangerous attempt by Texas Democrats to undermine our Constitution and avoid doing the job they were elected to do,” said Renae Eze, an Abbott spokeswoman. “We look forward to the Supreme Court upholding the rule of law and stopping another stall tactic by the Texas Democrats.”
Consequently, late in the evening of August 10th, Texas House of Representatives Speaker Phelan signed 52 warrants for the arrest of the Democrat members, ordering that they be forcibly brought before the House so that the Special Session convened by Gov. Abbott can proceed.
KXAN reported. “Democrats who are arrested would not face criminal charges and could not be jailed or fined. Law enforcement officers carrying out arrest orders by state officials could only try to bring them to the House chambers.”
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