The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) has responded to Gov. Greg Abbott’s writ of quo warranto petition against state Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) to have his House seat declared vacant, setting upcoming dates for briefs to be filed for either side in the case.
Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a similar suit against 13 Democratic members that fled to other states and with this order, SCOTX has consolidated Abbott and Paxton’s cases. With the briefing schedule being set to conclude after the last day of the current special session it the case proceeding would roll into a likely second special session. Additionally, the extra runway in the courts provides more time for the Democrats not present in Austin to begin trickling back to the Capitol, which could provide the necessary 100 members for the Texas House to meet a quorum so that legislative action on bills can begin again.
