From TexasTribune.org…
Twenty-two Texas House Democrats sued some of the state’s top Republican leaders in federal court in Austin late Friday, alleging that GOP officials’ efforts to bring them home for a special legislative session infringed on their constitutional rights to free speech and to petition the government for redress of grievances.
The lawsuit was filed on the final day of the first special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott — and on the eve of a second specially called legislative session — and names as defendants Abbott, House Speaker Dade Phelan and State Rep. James White.
Abbott has called for the arrest of the more than 50 House Democrats who fled the state last month for Washington, D.C., to block the passage of an elections bill they said would restrict voting rights in the state.
Their departure left the House without a quorum, the number of present members needed to pass bills, stalling the chamber’s operations. Phelan put the chamber under a “call” in an effort to regain quorum and signed a civil warrant for Rep. Philip Cortez, D-San Antonio, after he returned to the Texas House only to depart for the nation’s capital again a few days later.
