Paxton asks Illinois court to enforce Texas arrest warrants against Democrats who left the state

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking an Illinois court to enforce arrest warrants against Democratic lawmakers who have left the state to delay passage of a GOP-backed congressional map.

House Speaker Dustin Burrows issued civil arrest warrants on Monday, ordering the sergeant-at-arms and state troopers to track down and arrest the dozens of House members who absconded Sunday to deny quorum, or the minimum number of members required for the lower chamber to pass legislation.

These warrants are only enforceable within state lines, making them a largely symbolic threat that also ensures any members who return to the state can be apprehended and returned to the chamber.

Paxton’s request to Illinois’ Eighth Judicial Circuit Court marks a significant escalation in Republicans’ efforts to restore quorum and pass the new congressional map, which aims to secure five additional seats for Republicans. The Legislature undertook the unusual mid-decade redraw under pressure from President Donald Trump, who is looking to pad his party’s narrow majority in the U.S. House ahead of next year’s potentially difficult midterm election.

When Texas Democrats left the state to break quorum in 2003 and 2021, the House speakers at the time issued warrants but did not try to enforce them outside Texas.

“The Texas Representatives named herein hope the State of Illinois will provide safe harbor for their political actions and shield them from legal process,” Paxton wrote in the filing. “The United States Constitution, federal statute, and the doctrine of comity between states demand otherwise.”

Paxton is calling on the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says states should honor each other’s judicial proceedings. States typically do enforce each others’ judgments and comply with extraditions, but there are limits to when they are required to do so, legal experts previously told The Texas Tribune.

The lawsuit is filed in Illinois’ westernmost county, four and a half hours away from the Chicago suburb where the Democrats have camped out. The county voted for Trump by 47 percentage points in 2024, suggesting Paxton is seeking a friendlier venue than he might find in DuPage County, where the Democrats are staying, which went for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by 14 points.

Paxton’s office is pursuing a similar legal argument in an ongoing case against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, a New York doctor who allegedly provided abortion pills to a Texas woman in violation of the state’s abortion ban. The attorney general’s office has asked a New York clerk to enforce Texas’ judgment against Carpenter, which the clerk has refused to do, citing the state’s legal protections for doctors.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker previously said his state is “going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them,” referring to the Texas legislators in his state. Some other members went to Massachusetts and New York.

In the filing, Paxton calls on the goodwill of Illinois’ leadership, saying both states share the same fundamental interest in preventing “factionists and disorganizers” from blocking the progress of government.

“This is a far more fundamental common policy of the two sister states than any political differences about any legislation the Texas House of Representatives may consider or act on when a quorum is restored,” Paxton said.

Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, has taken the extraordinary step of asking the Texas Supreme Court to expel Houston Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, from office. Abbott argues that breaking quorum is equivalent to vacating one’s office, a long-shot case that goes against centuries of precedent.

Paxton’s filing comes after U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced that the FBI had granted his request to help track down the absent Democrats, marking the first sign of GOP efforts to get around restrictions that prevent Texas law enforcement from operating outside state lines.

Cornyn said on a local radio show Thursday that FBI Director Kash Patel “had assigned agents in both the San Antonio and Austin office,” but he did not specify what role those agents would play.

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