‘He Fled the State’: Texas House Speaker Issues Arrest Warrant for Texas Democrat
Texas | July 27, 2021
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan on Monday signed a civil arrest warrant for a Democrat state lawmaker who left the state earlier this month and then returned to Texas last week before going back with his colleagues again to Washington D.C.
The civil arrest warrant for Rep. Philip Cortez, the Democrat, won’t have an immediate impact because Texas law enforcement lacks jurisdiction outside the state. Earlier this month, the lawmakers fled the state, arguing it’s necessary to block the passage of a voting overhaul bill that they described as an attempt to suppress minority groups’ voting rights.
Last week, Cortez returned to Austin, Texas, from Washington and said he wanted to engage in “good faith dialogue” about the voting measure, which drew criticism from other Democrats. But Cortez went back to the nation’s capital over the weekend, stating that talks with Republicans on the bill “have not produced progress.”…
(Excerpts from the Epoch Times)