Heather Cox Richardson's "Letters from an American"

[danimagoo]

I know, but HCR should have mentioned that. It’s important to keep reminding everyone when these people are acting illegally.

[chgoliz]

@Millie_Fink

And they didn’t just do it by themselves—they went to Illinois, where there is a governor that gives a damn. You see, this fight is going to take all of us.

Fighting for the union, again. We are already in Civil War II. And Illinois was on the right side then, too.

[Docosc]

This really does have potential for armed forces facing off against each other. Illegally replacing elected representatives, threatening to invade another state, tearing up any concept of democracy. This is coming to a head far more quickly than i would have thought.

[Kii]

@Millie_Fink

Texas governor Abbott responded to the Texas House Democrats’ quorum break by threatening to remove from office any Democrats who are not back in their seats for Monday’s vote and to replace them “swiftly” with his own appointees thanks to his power to fill vacancies.

He claims he will invoke an OAG opinion KP-0382 that determined legislators can be removed if they have abandoned their office, and leaving to prevent a quorum might be abandonment.
What he doesn’t mention is that (1) OAG opinions are not legally binding (although often given deference), (2) a court has to make the determination a legislator abandoned their office, and (3) the governor cannot appoint a replacement. He can only call for a special election to elect a replacement.
Not sure how this might affect quorum if the seat is determined to be vacant.

I’d have to dig further to figure out if the courts with jurisdiction would be the ones in the capitol area. That is Travis County and the judges here are mostly Democrats themselves. But I don’t have time.

Unfortunately, this is probably a temporary measure. The last time the Texas Democratic reps tried this, the bill they attempted to stymie went through as soon as they returned. But maybe they are hoping to run the clock on the special session, force another special session, and do it again until there isn’t enough time before the election to change the maps. Not sure if that would work

Edit to add number 3 above.

[Kii]

@danimagoo

but HCR should have mentioned that. It’s important to keep reminding everyone when these people are acting illegally.

I find it odd she didn’t mention it too. Maybe because it’s kind of complicated and she didn’t have time to run that down?

[danimagoo]

It’s really not complicated. The idea that a governor could unilaterally remove an elected official from their office is anathema to the principle of separation of powers. It’s only complicated because Numbnuts McDickhead, aka Ken Paxton, made up an executive power out of thin air.

[mindysan33]

@danimagoo

Numbnuts McDickhead, aka Ken Paxton