On Monday, in a twist of irony, Texas Democrat Representative Jasmine Crockett, while rallying at a MoveOn event in Phoenix, Arizona, passionately called for an aggressive end to the Senate filibuster to protect voting rights, while praising her 51 Democratic colleagues' dramatic filibuster attempt to block Texas' redistricting vote.
Crockett’s defense of her colleagues’ quorum-breaking strategy of fleeing the state conflicts with the justifications offered by Texas’ Republican leadership for redrawing the state’s congressional map.
The reason for the proposed redistricting, according to Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, is they need to “redistrict because of constitutional concerns raised by the Justice Department over a handful of minority-dominated districts.”
Their controversy dates back to 1990, when Texas gained three congressional seats, prompting the Legislature to create Hispanic-majority Districts 29 (Houston) and 30 (Dallas) and adjust District 18 (Houston) to boost its African American population, using racial data to favor specific candidates.
Though approved for the 1992 election under the Voting Rights Act, these districts were struck down in Bush v. Vera (1996), with the Supreme Court ruling that their bizarre shapes and non-compactness, driven by race over neutral districting principles, violated constitutional standards by overly emphasizing racial identity.
Despite the historical precedent in Abbott and Patrick’s claims, many Democratic lawmakers such as Crockett have dismissed the proposed redistricting as a Conservative attempt to tilt the House further in their favor.
Crockett, while at the MoveOn event, said that, if a senator, she would aggressively try to eliminate the filibuster:
“I'm aggressive. So for me, I don't serve in the Senate, but I would get rid of the filibuster if it means that we can for voting rights because we don't get rights to repro. We don't get rights to healthcare. We don't get rights to education.
“We don't get any other rights if we don't have the ability to access the ballot box. So those are the things that I would do."
Ironically, the filibuster has been a favorite tool of Senate Democrats, who are currently in the minority.
Crockett further said she was inspired by her Democrat colleagues who fled the state to prevent the redistricting vote, proclaiming that:
“Right before I got over here, my former colleagues from the Texas House, those Texas Democrats, decided to get the hell out of Texas, …They decided to use whatever tools they could and breaking quorum is where they are at right now."
In contrast, Gov. Abbott has threatened in a letter written on Monday to remove the absent Democrats from office if they do not return by Monday afternoon, filing an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme court on Tuesday to remove the absent lawmakers because they have violated the state constitution and their absence has amounted to abandoning office.
In response to the Democrats fleeing, Abbott issued a press release, affirming the responsibilities of elected representatives in Texas:
”Real Texans do not run from a fight. But, that’s exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did. Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business.”