AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday authorized state law enforcement to round up and potentially arrest absentee Democrats who fled the Republican-led chamber to block action on polarizing election legislation. The 80-12 vote empowered the House sergeant-at-arms to dispatch law enforcement officers to compel the attendance of missing members “under warrant of arrest, if necessary.”After the vote, Dade Phelan, the speaker of the Texas House, signed 52 civil arrest warrants which will be delivered to the House Sergeant-at-Arms Wednesday morning for service, Enrique Marquez, the speaker’s communications director, said in an email. The move by the Texas House, sitting in Austin, came hours after the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court, acting on a petition by Gov. Greg Abbott and Mr. Phelan, overturned an earlier ruling. That ruling, from a district court in Austin’s home county of Travis, had determined that the two officials, both Republicans, did not have the authority to order the arrest of their fellow elected officials.

Source: New York Times August 11, 2021 02:11 UTC