Another day, another activist judge.
State District Judge Brad Urrutia, a Democrat, signed an order Sunday night temporarily blocking the arrest of AWOL Texas Democrat lawmakers who fled the state to block the GOP’s voting bills.
In mid-July at least 58 Democrat members of the state House of Representatives fled Texas and headed to Washington DC to block Republicans from advancing new voting laws through a special session of the legislature.
Last month Governor Abbott said that he will have the lawmakers arrested and hold them inside the state Capitol “until they get their job done.”
“If these people want to be hanging out wherever they’re hanging out on this taxpayer-paid junket, they’re going to have to be prepared to do it for well over a year. As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done,” Abbott told local station KVUE.
The Texas House of Representatives also voted to send law enforcement to arrest the Democrat lawmakers for fleeing the state and blocking the GOP from passing voting laws.
22 of the AWOL Texas Dems filed a lawsuit over the weekend against Texas Republicans claiming they are a “protected class” and suffering from “much anxiety and stress.”
The Texas Tribune reported:
A state district judge in Travis County issued an order blocking the arrest of House Democrats who have broken quorum by leaving the state, paving the way for those who remain outside of Texas to return home without threat of apprehension.
State District Judge Brad Urrutia, a Democrat, granted the temporary restraining order late Sunday night restricting Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan from “detaining, confining or otherwise restricting” the free movement of House Democrats within the state or issuing any warrants ordering their confinement.
The order expires in 14 days unless extended by Urrutia. The court will hear arguments on a temporary injunction on Aug. 20 where Abbott and Phelan must show why a temporary injunction should not be filed against them.
