Arrest Warrants Issued for Dozens of Texas Dems Who Fled State to Halt Voting Bill; Texas House Speaker Signs Civil Arrest Warrants for 52 Absent Democrats, and related stories

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Arrest warrants issued for dozens of Texas Dems who fled state to halt voting bill:

A leading Texas lawmaker signed arrest warrants for the 52 Democrats who fled Austin to avoid voting on a controversial GOP election reform bill that they claim would infringe on the ability of minorities to cast ballots.

House Speaker Dade Phelan signed the warrants late Tuesday, after the chamber voted 80-12 to force the runaway lawmakers to return to the statehouse, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The move came hours after the Texas Supreme Court authorized using law enforcement to impel Democrats who hightailed it to Washington, DC, a month ago to lobby for federal voting reforms to return and vote on the measure, according to the report.

The new partisan arrest warrants are civil, not criminal, Republicans said.

“People aren’t going to jail, but they got to come back to work,” Republican state Rep. Mayes Middleton said. --->READ MORE HERE

AP Photo/Eric Gay

Texas House speaker signs civil arrest warrants for 52 absent Democrats:

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has signed civil arrest warrants for 52 missing House Democrats directing authorities to bring them back to the chamber, which has been stymied for a month in the absence of a quorum.

The warrants were signed late Tuesday after the House voted in favor of compelling the Democratic legislators to return “under warrant of arrest, if necessary,” and are expected to be delivered Wednesday to the sergeant-at-arms, according to local news reports.

Some of the more than 50 Democrats who initially fled to Washington, D.C., broke ranks and returned Monday to Austin.

Despite those adds, the House was still shy of the 100 legislators needed for a quorum to conduct almost all business, including the elections bil that Democrats call unconstitutional and racist vote-suppression.

But votes to create and enforce quorums are among the votes exempt from the usual quorum requirement. --->READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

Texas House Speaker signs civil arrest warrants to return absent Democrats to chamber

Runaway Dems left in D.C. limbo as Congress exits, Texas threatens arrests

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