Abbott Wants Court to Toss Caucus Chair
as AG Steals Thunder with Authority Claim
Capitol Inside
August 5, 2025
Governor Greg Abbott sought on Tuesday night to disenfranchise 200,000 residents in the Houston area on Tuesday when he asked the Texas Supreme Court to disqualify an Asian American lawmaker who's a Democrat from serving in the state House as revenge for his role in a walkout on a congressional map.
But Attorney General Ken Paxton found a way to upstage the governor when he argued that he as the state's top lawyer had the authority to initiate judicial proceedings to remove legislators from office and that he planned to go after all the Democrats who've been absent if they don't return to the chamber by a Friday deadline.
In a move that would give the governor the ability to override the voters in legislative districts when lawmakers defy him, Abbott gave the high court a deadline of 5 p.m. on Thursday for a decision on whether State Rep. Gene Wu forfeited his seat in House District 137 when he was absent for two days in a row this week.
A 12-year House veteran who's a former prosecutor, Wu gave the governor a convenient target for a scapegoat for the potential demise of the GOP remap plans as a function of the part he played as the Democratic Caucus chairman in the quorum-crushing disappearing act in which 54 Democrats participated
Wu is the only current Texas lawmaker from China, where he was born and lived before his family immigrated to the Lone Star State when he was a kid. Right-wing conspiracy theorists have made baseless claims on social media about Wu as an agent for the communist government in his native country.
Abbott urged the high court to invoke a "rarely used writ of quo warranto" to justify the removal of Wu from his elected office on the ground that he solicited campaign donations on social media as a payment for "violation of his legislative duties" with a promise to break quorum in a fight to stop the map. The governor offered no evidence to support the allegation that Wu was paid to leave the state to strip the Republicans of a quorum that the House failed to achieve on Monday and Tuesday.
"Representative government cannot function if elected officials may monetize their absence, abandon their obligations and paralyze the Legislature without consequence," Abbott general counsel Trevor Ezell wrote in the suit.
The Supreme Court will be opening up a monumental can of worms if it bows to Abbott's request. Such a move would be perceived as a serious blow to democracy by giving the governor the newfound ability to choose who represents in House and Senate districts at the direct expense of the voters.
Paxton threw a curve into the governor's quest when he said he would move to have the seats for all missing Democrats declare vacant by the court if they're not back the deadline that Speaker Dustin Burrows set for Friday.
"If you don't show up for work, you get fired," Paxton said.
Abbott responded to Paxton's attempt to steal his thunder - firing off a letter to the Texas Supreme Court late Tuesday night explaining the authority he has for getting legislators kicked out of elected offices.
An affirmative ruling for the governor would have the potential to lead to a wholesale purging of legislative rosters to clear the way for candidates who he could hand-pick. Abbott showed no concern that the targeting of Wu could hurt the GOP severely with Asian voters and other who would see a ruling for the governor as a racist assault on democracy. Twelve percent of Wu's constituents are Asian in a heavily-Democratic HD 137 in southeast Houston.
more to come ...
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