Government

Ken Paxton Waves His Bits Around Rural Illinois In Bizarre Attempt To Scare Democratic Legislators Back To Texas

Can't find Chicago with two hands and a map!

By Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez on August 08, 2025 2:42 pm
Ken Paxton

Yesterday, Texas Attorney General (and 2026 Republican Senatorial hopeful!) Ken Paxton asked an Illinois state trial court to initiate “contempt proceedings” against the Democratic state legislators who decamped to that state “on an emergency basis.” Those lawmakers traveled to Illinois to deny Republicans a quorum as they seek to cram through a gerrymandered map that will hand five more Congressional seats to Republicans in 2026. Just like Dear Leader Trump ordered them to, with an assist from the DOJ, which declared Texas’s current districts racist against white people.

“Quorum breaking” has a long history in Texas as a means of protest. Article III, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution requires that two-thirds of the legislature be present in order to conduct any legislative business. The Texas House of Representatives has 150 members, so 100 must be in the room to constitute a quorum.

Under Rule 5, Section 8 of the Texas House rules, when there is no quorum present, “no business shall be transacted, except to compel the attendance of absent members or to adjourn.” Which the Texas House Republicans promptly did, issuing so called “quorum warrants” to that chamber’s sergeant-at-arms to effectuate the civil arrest and return of the Democratic legislators.

Those warrants – and the sergeant-at-arms’s authority – are only effective in Texas, which is why the legislators left the state. So Paxton ran to a court in Illinois insisting that it enforce the House warrants under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution, which commands that “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.”

Paxton calls the civil quorum warrants a “public Act,” and demands that Illinois courts enforce them. Although not just any Illinois court — Paxton made darn sure to file his trollsuit in tiny Adams county, 250 miles from liberal Chicago where the legislators are staying. 

This may be because the Texas law man is aware that the Full Faith and Credit clause has been used almost exclusively to enforce valid legal judgments issued by a court. An “Act” by the Texas Congress, isn’t a court order or even a law. It simply enables the sergeant-at-arms or its designee to arrest the lawmakers in Texas and bring them to the chamber. Paxton, who has been threatening doctors across the country for providing abortion and gender affirming care to Texas residents, may be confused about where his authority ends. But despite all his keening that “If the Quorum Order and Quorum Warrants are not given full faith and credit and are not enforced in Illinois, Texas is threatened with immediate and irreparable harm for which damages are an insufficient remedy,” he’s still trying to turn the narrow reed of the sergeant-at-arms’ power over House Members into the sword of a judicial warrant. And that dog won’t hunt.

In the meantime, Paxton seems to have been outflanked by his rival, Senator John Cornyn, who claims that he’s convinced the FBI to hunt these demoncrats down wherever they may be.

Cornyn has been tweeting up a storm accusing Democrats of everything from fraud to putting ketchup on their nachos. He also had some choice words for his rival.

All this Texas-sized clusterfuck needs is FBI Director Kash Patel, and then it’ll really be a party!

Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez produce the Law and Chaos Substack and podcast.