Illinois Judge Denies Texas AG’s Request to Help Arrest Absent State Democrats

‘This court is without jurisdiction to grant Petitioner’s emergency motion,’ the judge said. The Democrats left the Lone Star State on Aug. 3.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Nov. 1, 2021. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

An Illinois judge on Aug. 13 denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to enforce civil arrest warrants for Texas House Democrats who left the state to try blocking a mid-cycle redistricting effort that could give Republicans five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Judge Scott Larson of the Eighth Circuit Court of Illinois ruled that his court lacks the jurisdiction to do what Paxton was seeking.