By Rita Cook
Correspondent
Texas Metro News
Credit: from Txcourts.gov
AUSTIN – The redistricting brouhaha that has been discussed and fought over since 2025 when Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state to block a vote on the new congressional maps to redistrict Texas just took another interesting twist.
The all-Republican justices on the Texas Supreme Court, nine in all, rejected the idea that the lawmakers who left the state to break quorum had vacated their seats.
The ruling was a real blow to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans in Texas who were hoping the lawsuit that was filed to the state’s highest civil court would see a different outcome.
The lawsuit was meant to punish the more than 50 Texas Democrats who left Texas to avoid the vote fleeing to Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts.
The idea in this lawsuit was also meant to possibly send a message to future lawmakers (on either side of the aisle) who might consider this type of attempted quorum break.
Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu who has been a member of the Texas House of Representatives since 2013 had said he and his colleagues were not abandoning their office, but “exercising a right to dissent.”
The court’s opinion, which was written by Justice James Blacklock indicated the Republican-majority Legislature had taken care of the issue through measures that included fines against the lawmakers who left the state.
Those who left the state returned within a few weeks and the new redistricted map was passed anyway with Abbott signing it into law.
“In the end, a quorum was restored in two weeks’ time, without judicial intervention, by the interplay of political and practical forces,” Blacklock wrote.
“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. If the issue rises again and the Legislature cannot effectively compel lawmakers to return, the court may someday consider whether the courts should step in,” the opinion stated.
Wu said in a statement regarding the ruling “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.”
For his part, Abbott has indicated through his spokesman Andrew Mahaleris that if lawmakers leave again, the governor will bring the issue back to court as necessary.
“No elected official has the right to abandon their duties, flee the state and shut down the people’s business,” Mahaleris said.
This was not the first walkout of lawmakers in Texas history.
Last year’s walkout was the third time since 2003.
However, the vote has always been the same and the Republican majority has seen victory all three times in the end.
The Texas Constitution does allow for quorum breaks, but the court ruled in 2021 there could be consequences to get members back to Austin. After the redistricting brouhaha in Texas, there are now (as of this month) two states that still have congressional district maps pending and nine states, including Texas, that have new congressional maps.AUSTIN – The redistricting brouhaha that has been discussed and fought over since 2025 when Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state to block a vote on the new congressional maps to redistrict Texas just took another interesting twist.
The all-Republican justices on the Texas Supreme Court, nine in all, rejected the idea that the lawmakers who left the state to break quorum had vacated their seats.
The ruling was a real blow to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans in Texas who were hoping the lawsuit that was filed to the state’s highest civil court would see a different outcome.
The lawsuit was meant to punish the more than 50 Texas Democrats who left Texas to avoid the vote fleeing to Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts.
The idea in this lawsuit was also meant to possibly send a message to future lawmakers (on either side of the aisle) who might consider this type of attempted quorum break.
Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu who has been a member of the Texas House of Representatives since 2013 had said he and his colleagues were not abandoning their office, but “exercising a right to dissent.”
The court’s opinion, which was written by Justice James Blacklock indicated the Republican-majority Legislature had taken care of the issue through measures that included fines against the lawmakers who left the state.
Those who left the state returned within a few weeks and the new redistricted map was passed anyway with Abbott signing it into law.
“In the end, a quorum was restored in two weeks’ time, without judicial intervention, by the interplay of political and practical forces,” Blacklock wrote.
“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. If the issue rises again and the Legislature cannot effectively compel lawmakers to return, the court may someday consider whether the courts should step in,” the opinion stated.
Wu said in a statement regarding the ruling “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.”
For his part, Abbott has indicated through his spokesman Andrew Mahaleris that if lawmakers leave again, the governor will bring the issue back to court as necessary.
“No elected official has the right to abandon their duties, flee the state and shut down the people’s business,” Mahaleris said.
This was not the first walkout of lawmakers in Texas history.
Last year’s walkout was the third time since 2003.
However, the vote has always been the same and the Republican majority has seen victory all three times in the end.
The Texas Constitution does allow for quorum breaks, but the court ruled in 2021 there could be consequences to get members back to Austin. After the redistricting brouhaha in Texas, there are now (as of this month) two states that still have congressional district maps pending and nine states, including Texas, that have new congressional maps.
Rita Cook is a world traveler and writer/editor who specializes in writing on travel, auto, crime and politics. A correspondent for Texas Metro News, she has published 11 books and has also produced low-budget films
