On July 12, more than 50 Democrats left Texas as a protest against the restrictive voting reform bills brought in by the Lone Star State. They moved to Washington DC. They said that they would use their time away from their home state to advocate for federal legislation on voting rights. However, Governor George Abbott threatened them with arrest when they returned to Texas. So, Democrats from Texas filed a lawsuit, on Friday.
On Friday, August 6, 22 of the Democrats who are currently in Washington DC filed a complaint against Governor George Abbott of Texas and two others including Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan and Republican State Representative James White in federal court in Austin, Texas.
In the suit, the Democrats said that the Republican attempts to bring them back to Texas for a special legislative session was a violation of their rights. Incidentally Governor Abbott called for a second special legislative session to pass two Republican voting rights bills. The Democrats had left Texas to break the quorum in the first place. So, why would they attend the second legislative session is a moot point to ponder?
In a statement, Abbott said that he would continue to call special session after special session to reform their broken system and to uphold election integrity, as well as to pass other important items that the Texans demand and deserve, according to him. He also said that passing those Special Session agenda items would chart a course towards a brighter future for the Lone Star State.
However, the opposition party, the Democrats don’t believe so. If they did, they would not have broken the quorum, the first time. Their lawsuit also says that they had been deprived of liberty for huge periods of time and that they had suffered a lot of “anxiety and distress” as they were separated from their families.
The plaintiffs also said that they had suffered from “discomfort” and “embarrassment” as their reputations have been affected by the unfolding of the current events. They also mentioned the huge amount of money they had to spend to remain in DC.
In their lawsuit, the Democrats also that the public statements by the three GOP members attempted to deny, coerce, threaten, intimidate, and prevent Democrat voters to vote. To date, there has been no public response to the lawsuit by Governor Greg Abbott.
.jpg){kind=link}
