Texas House Speaker Signs Arrest Warrants for 52 Democrats Who Fled to DC Over Voting Bill

Last month, 52 Texas Democrats fled the state in an attempt to block a vote on an election bill that envisaged tougher voting requirements - a measure Democrats view as harming minorities and abusing voting rights.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan signed civil arrest warrants for 52 Democrats who departed to Washington DC last month as a means of sabotaging a vote on a new election bill.

On Tuesday, the House voted 80-12 in favor of forcing the Democrats to return, shortly after the state's Supreme Court temporarily blocked a restraining order that prevented Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Phelan from detaining the lawmakers.

Now those Democrats who have returned to Texas can be forcibly returned to the State Capitol to secure a necessary two-thirds quorum.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has signed 52 civil arrest warrants tonight for the Democrats in Washington D.C.

The lawmakers are not being taken to prison- we're told they're going to be taken to the State Capitol.#txlege #txpolitics pic.twitter.com/kRLjE8cs6F

— Simone De Alba (@Simone_DeAlba) August 11, 2021

Democrats condemned Abbott and Phelan's move to forcibly return the lawmakers to the State Capitol and take part in the vote.

"It is no surprise that Republican Governor Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan want to arrest their political opponents. ... We will defend the freedom to vote, and we look forward to our temporary injunction hearing on August 20th", Texas state Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer, Gina Hinojosa, and Jasmine Crockett said in a joint statement released following the state Supreme Court ruling.

52 Democratic lawmakers fled Texas last month to prevent Republican counterparts from voting on an election bill viewed by the Dems as harmful to voting rights and other electoral freedoms. Republicans insist that the bill protects election integrity by imposing additional voting requirements and restricting mail-in and drive-thru voting.