Texas Dems Respond to GOP Arrest Warrants

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1:00Michael Popok:Democrats in Texas, they've got the Republicans on the run and right where they want them to oppose the redistricting maps that would have eliminated five, five Democratic seats from the House in Texas. But 50, five zero, Texas Democrats went off to Illinois. I happen to be in Chicago today, hosted by Governor J.B. Pritzker. Why? Because they're in the process of quorum breaking or quorum busting to make sure that vote on the redistricting map created by the Republicans never takes place. Governor Abbott's upset about it. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is upset about it. But what are they going to do about it?

1:42Michael Popok:What will the Texas Supreme Court say about it? They already tried this in 2021 successfully, and Texans have been walking out on their legislature in order, as the minority party, in order to force change since 1870. I'm going to catch you up on the most recent attempt that's going on right now before our very eyes. And also, I have my hands on a brand new letter, which is exclusive to Midas Touch and Legal AF from Democracy Forward, one of our collaborators, our main collaborators over on Legal AF YouTube channel, in which they've already sent a pre-litigation letter to Governor Abbott, who's threatened to remove these 50 Texas Democrats because they've, quote-unquote, abandoned their office.

2:28Michael Popok:Abandoned their office? They're doing exactly what they need to do to defend democracy and represent their constituents. They haven't abandoned their jobs. They have taken their jobs to a higher level. And they're spending some time in Chicago. I'm Michael Popak. I'm spending some time with you. You're on Midas Touch and Legal AF. Take a minute, hit the Midas Touch subscribe button. Come on over to Legal AF subscribe button as well. All right. What happened? What are we talking about? About a week ago, and we covered it on Legal AF podcast this past Saturday, Texans announced a way for Donald Trump to steal the midterm election, or try to anyway.

3:05Michael Popok:One of the ways, if he can't win at the ballot, he can't win at the voting booth, is to try to eliminate the amount of Democrats that can be elected to Congress. There you go. If you can't get rid of the voter, you get rid of the game. You change the game. So they redrew their maps pursuant to the 2020 census. And lo and behold, five Democratic seats magically disappeared. Five, no Republican seats. So what was that? A purpley state became ruby red under this map. That gives Donald Trump five less Democrats to have to worry about being voted from Texas as we figure out what's going to happen at the midterms, right?

3:47Michael Popok:He's tilting the game board in his favor right now. And this is where the fight is right now. So when that map came up for a vote in a special session, because Texas is in a 30-day special session to handle this map and some other things, The Democrats who are in the minority, they may be in the minority, but they make up a quorum. And you have to have under Texas law, two thirds of the state legislators in the room at the same time to conduct business. So if you subtract 50, you don't have the two thirds. So that's what you got to do as a minority party. When you object to something, you walk out, you run out.

4:29Michael Popok:Now, the reason they left the state, some people might ask, hey, Popak, why are they in Chicago? Are they like, are they hanging out? Are they hanging out here on the Golden Mile? Are they shopping? No, they needed to get as far away from Texas as possible because the arrest warrants that they knew were coming by the sergeant of arms, by the legislator and the legislation there, you know, the House and the Senate would not reach as far in won't reach into Illinois. Why? Because the Texas Supreme Court, the last time they did a walkout in 2021 to protest against another bill that tried to take away people's voting rights, the Texas Supreme Court said a couple of things.

5:11Michael Popok:One, quorum busting or quorum breaking by a minority is a legitimate form of political exercise and representing your constituents. And the arrest warrants can be issued if they don't show, but the arrest warrants reach only as far as the borders of Texas. Now, Texas might be the big sky country, but it doesn't reach into Illinois. I wasn't a major in geography, but I kind of figured that out. And so did the 50 state Democrats. So they were like, we got to get out of here. You got to get out beyond the arrest warrant. So J.B. Pritzker, governor, one of the leaders of the resistance, a likely 2028 political candidate for president, invited them to come to Chicago.

5:52Michael Popok:And here they are. No, I don't think they went to Lala Palooza, which ended last night, but they did come to Illinois. All right. Now, what's gone on since? Firstly, Abbott has taken to the stage in social media and made an announcement that he's going to start, he's going to remove those 50 from their office for abandoning their office. Okay. Can the governor do that? No. Can a lawsuit do that? Maybe. But you'd have to prove abandonment. And as I said at the top of the hot take, this is the opposite of abandonment. They're representing their constituents the best way they know how, through quorum busting to make sure those maps don't get approved.

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8:34Michael Popok:And we have the exclusive letter right here. Here's what Sky Perryman, who just did a hot take with me, you can come over to Legal AF YouTube and catch it, about two new lawsuits. Here's what she wrote today, August 4th, to Governor Abbott. Governor Abbott, last night you issued a statement stating that you would remove Texas state lawmakers elected by their communities if they were not present today, Monday, at a special session. It appears you called the special session. It appears that you are doing the bidding of interest outside of Texas, including President Trump, who are seeking to prevent the fair representation of people in the state.

9:08Michael Popok:All in bold now, you are not a king. You have no authority to remove lawmakers elected by their communities in Texas from office. And then they say that there is a Texas Supreme Court case from 2021, which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton knows because he cited it in his letter, that enables quorum breaking as a tactic of the legislative minority. And these 50 Senate Democrats or Democrats are in the minority. And so the decision by the lawmakers to represent their communities by refusing to participate in this special session today is, as the Texas Constitution recognizes, Sky Perryman continues, an official act, not the abandonment of a constitutional duty, as your statement suggests.

9:53Michael Popok:It is, in fact, the judgment of these lawmakers that their communities are best served by the quorum break, which is a prerogative that Texas lawmakers have the right to exercise. I mean, the minority in Texas, Republican or Democrat, have been doing quorum breaking since 1870 all the way up to 2021 and now this most recent time. And so what she reminds Abbott in this letter is that he doesn't have the ability to remove people for abandonment. They're going to have to go through a removal. They're going to have to go through a process through a court and they will be opposed. This is what she ends the letter with on page two.

10:27Michael Popok:what is happening in the state of Texas is not just a test for the rights of Texans, but one for the rights of everyone who wishes to live in a democracy in this nation. You and your allies have created an unprecedented political emergency for the people of Texas and across the nation. Thousands of Texans have testified against and spoken out to oppose the hastily drawn redistricting maps, which seek to make invisible and take the voices away from millions. While you have some power as a governor, you don't have the power to remove. Now, this is a shot across the bow by Democracy Forward before they file their ultimate suit.

11:01Michael Popok:So I think we're going to have a number of suits. We're going to have Paxson on behalf of Texas filing some sort of action to remove these 50 lawmakers. There's already a fine of$500 a day running since 2021. They stuck that into new rules there. So there's going to be that case. That's probably going to be a state court case. And that ultimately goes up to the Texas Supreme Court. separately I could see a federal lawsuit being filed by the lawmakers uh the there's also an arrest warrant that's been issued by the sergeant of arms to bring them home but he doesn't have the long arm of the law to go grab them in Illinois we have the clip of the arrest warrants being issued or authorized by the sergeant of arms in Texas let's run the clip thank you Mr.

11:46Speaker and members Mr. Speaker I move that the sergeant of arms or officers appointed by her send for all absentees whose attendance is not excused for the purpose of securing and maintaining their attendance under warrant of arrest if necessary and this order to be continued beyond the adjournment of day session and until the further order of the House. Members, you've heard the motion. This is a record vote. Clerk, ring the bell. Sir Garren voting aye.

12:23Being 85 eyes and six nays, the motion prevails. The sergeant at arms and any officers appointed by her are directed to send for all absentees whose attendance is not excused for the purposes of securing and maintaining their attendance under warrant of arrest if necessary until further order of the House.

12:41Michael Popok:So I think there's going to be a lawsuit about that arrest warrant and get back before a federal judge on that and back up to the United States Supreme Court. So there's a number of ways, and then ultimately a substantive attack on the redistricting map as a violation of the Voting Rights Act and a violation of the Constitution and the representative form of government that we have. this is the right thing this is what defiance people ask me what does defiance look like what does disobedience look like what does good trouble look like how do we resist the trump administration how do we call out their depravity you're watching it 50 heroes for me right now the uh procedurally there'll be some ins and outs you know the speaker will will call some procedural motions in Texas.

13:34Michael Popok:The governor will squawk more about removal. There'll be another injunction hearing. The other question is, do these things work? They do. In many cases, it forces the majority who's trying to shove these maps or these rules or these pieces of legislation down people's throats to bargain, to negotiate, to compromise. Sometimes that does happen. Depends on the length of the time, especially. If you can believe it, there was, in Oregon, the Republicans walked out for six weeks. So there was no business for six weeks. Remember, quorum breaking means for as long as they're out, this body in Texas stops legislating, stops doing anything deliberative.

14:15Michael Popok:They can't act without the quorum. So they're all back in their offices. This 30-day session is on ice appropriately. So I think it's a bargaining tool. It's a negotiating tool. You might see some horse trading, no pun intended in Texas, between maybe we don't lose five seats, we lose one seat or whatever it is. But they got to stay out for as long as they can. But it's going to ultimately be decided back in the court system and we'll be right there for it at the corner of law and politics here on the Midas Touch Network on Illegal AF. I'm glad you're here with me. Come on over to Illegal AF, the YouTube channel.

14:51Michael Popok:Hit the free subscribe button there. If we can just get any part of our audience to match our subscriber base to match our audience, this would be fantastic. We've had over 220 million people view our work in the last nine months. I'll take 1 % of that in the subscriber base. Just takes a minute. Flick your finger. Hit the subscriber button. Come on over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel. And I'll post this Democracy Forward letter on the Legal AF sub stack. So until my next report, this is Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack.

15:33Michael Popok:You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Wear legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe. The right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. At Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50 ,000 five-star reviews to prove we deliver.

16:14Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we have you covered. Real design professionals. Free samples. Zero pressure. Right now, get up to 40 % off site-wide. Plus, get a free professional measure at blinds.com. Rules and restrictions apply.