(The Center Square) – Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday filed an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court to remove from office the Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair, Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston.
Wu led more than 50 House Democrats out of state to prevent the Texas House from reaching a quorum and conducting official business out of protest to a redistricting bill.
Abbott filed a 35-page Petition for Writ of Quo Warranto “to address ongoing abuses of public office by ousting ‘the non-user’ Wu, who has abdicated his official responsibilities by avowedly repudiating them,” The Center Square reported.
“To be clear, the lawsuit I filed today seeks relief directly from the Supreme Court based on authority of the Texas Constitution, Section 22 of the Government Code & Supreme Court precedent. I am not seeking relief from a trial court under Chapter 66 of the Civil Practice & Remedies Code. The runaway Democrats must be held accountable immediately. This letter is filed with the Texas Supreme Court to make clear the authority I have to bring this lawsuit,” Abbott said.
Late Tuesday, the Texas Supreme Court issued an order “requesting Wu to respond to the petition for writ of quo in the above-referenced case” by 5 p.m. Friday.
In response, Abbott said, “The Texas Supreme Court has now ordered the runaway ring leader of the derelict Democrats to respond to my lawsuit by Friday.”
Wu, who remains in Chicago, also remained defiant, saying, “This office does not belong to Greg Abbott, and it does not belong to me. It belongs to the people of House District 137, who elected me. I took an oath to the Constitution, not a political agenda, and I will not be the one to break that oath.
“Let me be unequivocal about my actions and my duty. When a governor conspires with a disgraced president to ram through a racist gerrymandered map, my constitutional duty is not to be a willing participant. When that governor holds disaster relief for 137 dead Texans and their families hostage, my moral duty is to sound the alarm – by any means necessary. Denying the governor a quorum was not an abandonment of my office; it was the fulfillment of my oath. Unable to defend his corrupt agenda on its merits, Greg Abbott now desperately seeks to silence my dissent by removing a duly-elected official from office.”
He also said Abbott was using the law “as a weapon to silence his people.”
To Abbott, he said he “failed the people of Texas” and is using the courts to “punish those who refused to fail with you.”
Texas Democrats also issued a statement, saying, “History will judge this moment. It will show a Governor who used the law as a weapon to silence his people, and it will show those of us who stood for a higher principle. We took an oath to the constitution, not to a politician’s agenda.”
On Tuesday night, Wu went on several local and national television programs from Chicago saying he wasn’t backing down. He also said Democrats who were breaking quorum were doing so “out of love for Texas.”
In response to one interview, state Rep. Shelley Luther, R-Sherman, said, “This dude is begging to lose his seat. He’s staying in a plush hotel in Illinois, ignoring his constituents, and avoiding HIS JOB.”
House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, who signed a civil warrant for Wu’s arrest, told Fox News, “I am confident we will take up the redistricting. I am confident it will pass and I am confident it will do so in a timely fashion. I hope it is this week. If it’s not this week, it’ll be next. We are here. We will remain here. We are really close to making a quorum. We will take care of the call on the special session for all Texans.”
Burrows is working with the Texas Department of Public Safety to find and arrest House Democrats currently in Texas or when they return to Texas.
The House is scheduled to convene on Friday.
