Cornyn Wants FBI to Arrest Democrats Who Fled Texas to Fight Gerrymandering

"Entirely unhinged" was how one constitutional law expert described a letter U.S. Sen. John Cornyn sent to the FBI Tuesday, demanding that the top federal law enforcement agency intervene "to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled" Texas—meaning the Democratic state legislators who left the state this week to prevent Republicans from advancing a congressional map that would likely net the GOP five more U.S. House seats.

Cornyn (R-Texas) didn't mention the Republican Party's redistricting effort, which has been backed by the Trump administration and is aimed at changing district lines that formed districts with Black and Latino majorities, in his letter to FBI Director Kash Patel. Instead, he claimed the dozens of Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas on Sunday were stopping the state House from addressing proposed disaster relief following deadly floods last month.

Republicans had added the redistricting efforts to the legislative agenda of a special session, making the flood relief a lesser priority—and angering state Democrats who have been in states including Illinois and New York since leaving Sunday, with Democratic Govs. JB Pritzker and Kathy Hochul providing protection against GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's threat to arrest them.

Cornyn claimed in his letter to Patel that the Texas Department of Public Safety may need the FBI's help in locating and arresting the "fleeing lawmakers," and accused the state Democrats of potentially running afoul of anti-bribery laws by accepting the support of Prtizker, Hochul, and other out-of-state officials who have helped them since they left Texas.

"I am concerned that legislators who solicited or accepted funds to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties may be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses," wrote Cornyn. "These legislators have committed potential criminal acts in their rush to avoid their constitutional responsibilities and must be fully investigated and held accountable."

Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, said Cornyn's plea for help from Patel amounted to "police state hogwash from a guy who should know better."

"There is no reasonable basis that arresting Texas legislators will prevent the commission of a federal crime," he said. "This is simply John Cornyn asking for unconstitutional, lawless, and arbitrary federal power."

As Common Dreams reported Monday, Texas state House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-83) signed civil arrest warrants for the more than 50 Democrats who left the state to deny the chamber a quorum, but one expert said the warrants would not be enforceable outside Texas.

Under legislative rules the state House members face $500 daily fines for each day they miss of the session, and they could be formally reprimanded, censured, and expelled if two-thirds of the chamber vote in support of those measures—but legal experts have said Abbott and other Republican leaders in Texas would have a difficult time proving the lawmakers have committed any civil or criminal offenses.

"They have not committed a crime. They are not fugitives," said Kreis. "There's no offense against the United States."