Earlier this month, Texas’s highest court sided with Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto of funding for legislative pay, delivering a huge blow to a group of Texas Democratic legislators who sought a reversal.
The Texas Supreme Court on Aug. 9 denied the Democrats’ request to overturn the governor's June veto of the state budget line that funds the Texas Legislature, which includes salary and benefits for approximately 2,100 employees, the Texas Tribune reported. The veto was in response to the first of two walkouts by Democratic lawmakers to prevent a vote on a Republican-sponsored election bill.
A satisfied Abbott took to social media to laud the move and demand absentee lawmakers return to the Capitol.
“The Texas Supreme Court denied Democrats' request to overturn my veto of the Legislature's funding because the Democrats walked out on doing their job,” the governor Tweeted following the ruling. "Contrary to Democrats and pundits, my veto was legal. Now it's time for Democrats to return to work.”
The 87th legislative session ended on Memorial Day with a cadre of Democrats leaving the Capitol at the stroke of midnight to deny the Republican-majority legislature a chance to call for a vote on the election bill.
Abbott subsequently called for a special session last month, with the controversial election measure and bail reform among the high-priority items on his 11-point agenda.
A few days after the session began, the Democrats fled the state for Washington, D.C., in another attempt to break quorum.
The Democrats sought a reverse of the veto on the grounds it took away their power as a “co-equal branch of government," but the state's highest court disagreed, the Texas Tribune reported.
In a separate decision, the justices also voided a state district judge's temporary restraining order barring the arrests of the lawmakers who skipped out on the session, the Texas Tribune reported Aug. 10.
In Texas, State Supreme Court judges are elected. All seats on the court are currently held by Republicans.