The Supreme Court of Texas has ordered the top Democrat in the Texas state legislature to respond to a lawsuit filed by Gov. Greg Abbott that seeks to remove him from office.
In an escalating battle over Texas redistricting, Mr. Abbott filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing state Rep. Gene Wu of renouncing constitutional mandates “by fleeing the state of Texas to break quorum, obstruct legislative proceedings and paralyze the Texas House of Representatives.”
Mr. Wu, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, led an exodus of party lawmakers from the state earlier this week.
The Democrats fled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts to thwart a plan by the GOP-led Texas legislature to approve a new congressional district map.
The redrawn lines proposed by the GOP would eliminate five U.S. House seats now controlled by the Democrats and would help the Republican Party maintain control of the U.S. House in the 2026 election.
Democrats say the new district lines are strictly partisan and will deprive Black and Hispanic voters of fair representation in Congress.
“Texas House Democrats are demonstrating what it means to fight for the preservation of our constitutional republic,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat who is providing a safe haven for many of the runaway lawmakers, said Tuesday.
By leaving the state, Democrats blocked the House from conducting legislative business by depriving the chamber of a quorum.
In his lawsuit, Mr. Abbott called Mr. Wu “the runaway ring leader of the derelict Democrats.”
The Supreme Court ordered Mr. Wu to respond to the lawsuit by Friday afternoon.
In a statement, the lawmaker denied he was breaking the law.
“I took an oath to the constitution, not a politician’s agenda,” Mr. Wu said. “Denying the governor a quorum was not an abandonment of my office. It was a fulfillment of my oath.”
Mr. Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this week ramped up efforts to punish the absent Democrats.
Mr. Paxton set a Friday deadline for Democratic state lawmakers to return to work in the legislature or else face removal from elected office.
Mr. Paxton, a Republican, said he’ll ask a court to declare vacant the seats of every House Democrat who fled the state earlier this week in a bid to block a GOP plan to redraw congressional district lines.
The unprecedented move would likely require suing to remove each lawmaker individually in what would be a lengthy and complicated process.
If successful, Mr. Abbott would call a special election to fill the vacancies.
House Republicans on Monday voted to authorize Texas law enforcement to track down and arrest truant Democrats, but the order is largely symbolic since most of the lawmakers have fled the state.
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, asked federal law enforcement to help track down the lawmakers and carry out the arrests.
The missing Democrats face a $500 fine for each day they fail to report to work in the legislature.
The redistricting effort is moving forward in Texas in spite of the missing Democrats, Republican leaders said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the GOP-led Senate will vote on the new congressional map next week along with legislation to address the devastating floods that occurred in July in central Texas.
In a Fox News interview, Mr. Patrick brushed off Democratic opposition to the GOP’s gerrymandered congressional map, pointing to Massachusetts, Illinois and other blue states that have carved out districts in order to make it impossible for Republican candidates to win.
In Massachusetts, for example, there are no U.S. House seats controlled by Democrats, even though 36% of Bay State voters picked President Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
“I think eyeballs are popping out across America when Republicans see this and probably even Democrats are saying, ‘Gee, we hid this for so long. Let’s not talk about it,’” Mr. Patrick told Sean Hannity.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.