Paxton
Yesterday,
Texas
Attorney
General
(and
2026
Republican
Senatorial
hopeful!)
Ken
Paxton
asked
an
Illinois
state
trial
court
to
initiate
“contempt
proceedings”
against
the
Democratic
state
legislators
who
decamped
to
that
state
“on
an
emergency
basis.”
Those
lawmakers
traveled
to
Illinois
to
deny
Republicans
a
quorum
as
they
seek
to
cram
through
a
gerrymandered
map
that
will
hand
five
more
Congressional
seats
to
Republicans
in
2026.
Just
like
Dear
Leader
Trump
ordered
them
to,
with
an
assist
from
the
DOJ,
which
declared
Texas’s
current
districts
racist
against
white
people.
“Quorum
breaking”
has
a
long
history
in
Texas
as
a
means
of
protest.
Article
III,
Section
10
of
the
Texas
Constitution
requires
that
two-thirds
of
the
legislature
be
present
in
order
to
conduct
any
legislative
business.
The
Texas
House
of
Representatives
has
150
members,
so
100
must
be
in
the
room
to
constitute
a
quorum.
Under
Rule
5,
Section
8
of
the
Texas
House
rules,
when
there
is
no
quorum
present,
“no
business
shall
be
transacted,
except
to
compel
the
attendance
of
absent
members
or
to
adjourn.”
Which
the
Texas
House
Republicans
promptly
did,
issuing
so
called
“quorum
warrants”
to
that
chamber’s
sergeant-at-arms
to
effectuate
the
civil
arrest
and
return
of
the
Democratic
legislators.
Those
warrants
–
and
the
sergeant-at-arms’s
authority
–
are
only
effective
in
Texas,
which
is
why
the
legislators
left
the
state.
So
Paxton
ran
to
a
court
in
Illinois
insisting
that
it
enforce
the
House
warrants
under
the
Full
Faith
and
Credit
Clause
of
the
Constitution,
which
commands
that
“Full
Faith
and
Credit
shall
be
given
in
each
State
to
the
public
Acts,
Records,
and
judicial
Proceedings
of
every
other
State.”
Paxton
calls
the
civil
quorum
warrants
a
“public
Act,”
and
demands
that
Illinois
courts
enforce
them.
Although
not
just
any
Illinois
court
—
Paxton
made
darn
sure
to
file
his
trollsuit
in
tiny
Adams
county,
250
miles
from
liberal
Chicago
where
the
legislators
are
staying.
This
may
be
because
the
Texas
law
man
is
aware
that
the
Full
Faith
and
Credit
clause
has
been
used
almost
exclusively
to
enforce
valid
legal
judgments
issued
by
a
court.
An
“Act”
by
the
Texas
Congress,
isn’t
a
court
order
or
even
a
law.
It
simply
enables
the
sergeant-at-arms
or
its
designee
to
arrest
the
lawmakers
in
Texas
and
bring
them
to
the
chamber.
Paxton,
who
has
been
threatening
doctors
across
the
country
for
providing
abortion
and
gender
affirming
care
to
Texas
residents,
may
be
confused
about
where
his
authority
ends.
But
despite
all
his
keening
that
“If
the
Quorum
Order
and
Quorum
Warrants
are
not
given
full
faith
and
credit
and
are
not
enforced
in
Illinois,
Texas
is
threatened
with
immediate
and
irreparable
harm
for
which
damages
are
an
insufficient
remedy,”
he’s
still
trying
to
turn
the
narrow
reed
of
the
sergeant-at-arms’
power
over
House
Members
into
the
sword
of
a
judicial
warrant.
And
that
dog
won’t
hunt.
In
the
meantime,
Paxton
seems
to
have
been
outflanked
by
his
rival,
Senator
John
Cornyn,
who
claims
that
he’s
convinced
the
FBI
to
hunt
these
demoncrats
down
wherever
they
may
be.
Cornyn
has
been
tweeting
up
a
storm
accusing
Democrats
of
everything
from
fraud
to
putting
ketchup
on
their
nachos.
He
also
had
some
choice
words
for
his
rival.
All
this
Texas-sized
clusterfuck
needs
is
FBI
Director
Kash
Patel,
and
then
it’ll
really
be
a
party!
Liz
Dye and Andrew
Torrez produce
the
Law
and
Chaos Substack and podcast.