Texas Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows issued civil arrest warrants for House Democrats who were not present when the House convened at 3 p.m. on Aug. 4.

The majority of Democrats were not present, meaning they broke quorum, which is the minimum number of representatives to hold a meeting of the chamber and requires 100 lawmakers to meet. The Democrats did this to block Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to redraw the congressional district map during a special legislative session.

Abbott has also instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to arrest the absent Democrats and return them to the House, and also to investigate House Democrats for felony charges, such as bribery. On Aug. 3, the day before the House failed to make quorum, Abbott threatened to vacate the seats of the House Democrats who broke quorum.

“That amounts to an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office,” Abbott wrote in a letter. “When the Governor calls a Special Session, our constitution provides that the ‘Legislature shall meet.’”

Arrest warrants are mostly symbolic, as the House Democrats are currently outside of Texas jurisdiction, instead traveling to Democrat-run states like Illinois.

Abbott’s threat to remove the House Democrats relies on a 2021 opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton that said elected officials could be removed from office by a district court if they break quorum. However, in Texas, Attorney General opinions are not legally binding, meaning a court could rule the removal attempts unconstitutional.

If Abbott were able to remove the absent House Democrats, it would remove Rep. Erin Zwiener (D-Driftwood), who represents District 45, which covers parts of Hays County, including San Marcos, Kyle, Buda and Driftwood. It would leave Hays County residents without a voice in the state House during a time when the electoral maps are being redrawn. Zwiener said it was an attempt to steal votes from the voters living in her district.

“I’m less concerned with Abbott’s empty threats than I am with fighting for the rights of my constituents. Democracy is important,” Zwiener said. “We should all be willing to take a few risks for it, and I’m just being focused on making sure my constituents have a voice in who represents them, and that we have some hope of Congress being able to hold Trump accountable.”

Zwiener was also unconcerned with the arrest warrants issued for her and her colleagues. 

“It’s not the first time. [Abbott] can threaten us all he wants, we are going to keep fighting for the people,” Zwiener said.

After the quorum was broken and arrest warrants issued, Congressmen Greg Casar (D-Austin) and Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) organized a protest outside the Governor’s Mansion in Austin. Casar represents U.S. House District 35, which runs from Austin to San Antonio, covering parts of Hays County such as Kyle and San Marcos. In an Instagram post advertising the protest, Casar called Abbott a “wannabe dictator” and said the protest was in opposition to Abbott trying to remove state House Democrats.

“Imagine for a moment, in another country, if there was a corrupt president that was trying to drastically change the election laws right before an election, and then his political ally threatened to remove all the elected officials from an opposition party in order to get it done,” Casar said. “We would say that in that other country, democracy was on its last legs. But that’s not happening in another country, that’s happening right now in America.”

Both Casar and Zwiener believe the Republicans’ redistricting plan violates the Voting Rights Act’s (VRA) protection for minorities. Section 2 of the VRA protects against racial discrimination in voting, which Casar believes protects District 35 as it currently exists.

“Back over a decade ago, the Supreme Court said that Central Texas, from Austin through Hays County deserved a Latino opportunity district,” Casar said. “Donald Trump is trying to take that away. If Trump is able to take that away here in the Greater Austin area, then he’ll try to take it away, those rights away across America.”

In a recent case involving Louisiana, the Supreme Court asked lawyers to consider if Section 2 of the VRA may be unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court rules against racially based districts, it could limit the option to challenge the proposed map in Texas.

“I am very concerned that Donald Trump and so the right wing have purchased Supreme Court seats so that they could try to disenfranchise Latino voters here in Central Texas and then get the Supreme Court to rubber stamp it so they could spread that across the country,” Casar said.

Under the new proposed map, Zwiener said it would be much more difficult for Black and Latino voters to elect members of Congress.

“The votes of the average black person in Texas are going to count about a fifth as the votes of a white person in electing their member of Congress,” Zwiener said. “The votes of Hispanic folks are going to count about a third of the votes of a white person.”

Both Zwiener and Casar believe the proposed maps are gerrymanders based on partisan lines. Zwiener criticized details such as moving Kyle and Buda into the same district as parts of Corpus Christi, which is 195 miles away. Casar went further, accusing the Trump administration of drawing the map instead of Texas Republicans.

“It was clearly drawn in Mar-a-Lago, in the White House, because they’re chopping Hays County up hundreds of miles away,” Casar said.

Casar sent his support to the Democrats who broke quorum and asked the protestors to as well.

“I support our brave Texas Democrats like Erin Zwiener, who represents most of [Texas State] University, and I think that her stand has been very brave because she’s standing up for the voting rights of students and young people and working class people and people of color all across the country,” Casar said. 

Zwiener declined to comment on how long House Democrats would be willing to stay out of Texas, saying it would be bad to discuss strategy right now.

Abbott has yet to make any formal move to begin removal proceedings for the Democratic lawmakers. The state House of Representatives will meet again at 1 p.m. on August 5, at which point they can do no business unless a quorum is present. 

This is a developing story. The University Star will provide updates as they become available.