Texas Supreme Court Punishes Democrat Deserters On Their Latest Request For The State Legislature
On Monday, the Texas Supreme Court refused Democratic lawmakers’ request to restore money to the state legislature.
In June, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) blocked financing for the state legislature in order to deprive Democratic lawmakers of their paychecks.
Abbott took action after Democrats betrayed constituents by skipping Republican-backed measures by refusing to vote on the bills, breaking quorum, and effectively shutting down the Texas House of Representatives.
Democrats begged the Texas Supreme Court to intervene and overturn Abbott’s veto of state financing shortly after he cut money to the legislature. The court refused the request, stating that the dispute the Democrats wanted the court to resolve occurred within one arm of government, notably the legislature, and was outside of the court’s jurisdiction.
“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,” the court wrote. “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.
The court recognized that Abbott’s program has the support of the majority of members of the Republican-controlled legislature.
“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 the 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.”
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