Politics
Illinois Judge Rejects Request to Arrest and Return Texas Democrats as Lawmakers Plot Comeback
The House of Representatives attempts to convene but cannot due to Texas Democrats breaking quorum at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Mikala Compton /Austin American-Statesman via AP)
A downstate Illinois judge has rejected a request from Texas officials to arrest and return absent Democratic Texas House legislators who fled to Illinois back to their home state.
Eighth District Judge Scott Larson in a ruling published Wednesday said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “failed to present a legal basis” for the Illinois court to consider civil arrest warrants filed in a different state.
“This court, under a petition to show cause, does not have the inherent power to direct Illinois law enforcement officers, or to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, or any officer appointed by her, to execute Texas civil Quorum Warrants upon nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois,” Larson wrote.
That order comes as Texas Republicans continue their efforts to force the absent House Democrats to return home amid an ongoing congressional redistricting battle.
Paxton had asked an Illinois court in Quincy to enforce warrants issued for the absent lawmakers in Texas so they could be arrested beyond that state’s borders. He and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott want state courts to remove Democratic lawmakers from office, asserting that they have abandoned their posts.
The Democrats on Thursday announced they will return provided that Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal, both of which were expected to happen Friday.
Democrats did not say what day they might return.
Abbott still intends to push through new maps that would give the GOP five more winnable seats before next year’s midterm elections.
The Democrats have claimed the redrawn Texas maps proposed by Republicans would disproportionately affect districts represented by Black and Latino Democrats and have raised concerns about Abbott and Paxton’s use of law enforcement and the justice system against their political opponents.
Abbott last month added the redistricting proposal to a lengthy agenda he gave to lawmakers in ordering them back to the Texas Capitol for a special session. Texas Democrats balked and urged the governor and legislative leaders to instead prioritize the state’s response to victims of July’s catastrophic flooding that killed dozens.
Texas Democrats intend to run out the clock on their current special session, which cannot extend beyond Aug. 19. But Abbott has said he’ll call lawmakers back to the Statehouse again and again until enough Democrats show up to reach the attendance threshold required to vote on the bill.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has backed the absent Democrats and accused their Republican counterparts of violating the Voting Rights Act. He and other Democratic governors in New York and California have also considered their own redistricting efforts to offset the potential Republican gains in Texas.
“We have to see what actually happens in Texas,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event Thursday. “There’s been no movement forward, but as you know, we’ve left all the options on the table. Our first option, which we took, was to house and protect the Texas House Democrats, and as long as they want to stay, we will do that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
