1:45Texas Governor Greg Abbott in Hunt, Texas, July 8, 2025, and Democratic Texas Rep. Gene Wu in Warrenville, Illinois, Aug. 4, 2025.Reuters
Governor Greg Abbott requested the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday evening to oust state Rep. Gene Wu, leader of the Texas House Democratic caucus, claiming that Wu deserted his position by leaving the state.
Many legal analysts, in discussions with ABC News, expressed doubts regarding the robustness of Abbott’s case for removing legislators.
Wu, along with other Democratic lawmakers, exited the state on Sunday to stall a Republican reconfiguration of the state’s Congressional districts by preventing the House from having enough members to conduct its operations.
In an urgent petition for a writ of quo warranto, Abbott contended that Wu “forfeited” his position by leaving the state, thereby creating a vacancy that Abbott would subsequently be entitled to fill.
A quo warranto is “a procedure by which it can be asserted that someone is improperly holding an office and ought to be removed,” said Samuel Issacharoff, a professor of constitutional law at New York University, in an interview with ABC News.
This process was “most frequently utilized” in the United States after the Civil War to dismiss former Confederate officials, he noted.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addresses attendees during his Parent Empowerment Night event, advocating for school choice and vouchers at Temple Christian School in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 6, 2025. (Chris Torres/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)Fort Worth Star-telegram/TNS
Some analysts were doubtful on Tuesday night regarding the legal validity of Abbott’s use of this process to seek Wu’s removal, although others suggested it remains conceivable that the state Supreme Court might favor the governor’s position.
The Texas Supreme Court is entirely Republican, with six of the nine justices appointed by Abbott.
"In Texas, the Supreme Court is directly elected through partisan primaries, indicating that justices will likely avoid actions that could upset Republican primary voters," remarked Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, to ABC News.
Charles Rhodes, a constitutional law professor at the University of Missouri, noted that if the state Supreme Court determined that a legislator’s office has been “intentionally abandoned or relinquished,” they possess the authority to declare that office vacant.
Nevertheless, Rhodes indicated that Abbott is pursuing a ruling “without any historical precedent in American law.”
"To my knowledge, I have never seen [quo warranto] utilized in the context of a legislator who is breaking quorum in American history," Rhodes informed ABC News.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott in Hunt, Texas, July 8, 2025, and Democratic Texas Rep. Gene Wu in Warrenville, Illinois, Aug. 4, 2025.Reuters
David Froomkin, an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center, asserted that Wu has not legally abandoned his legislative role, thus not creating a vacancy.
The legal precedent cited in Abbott’s petition defines “abandonment” based on “the official’s intent to vacate their position,” and Wu has demonstrated no such intention, according to Froomkin.
"What the governor is attempting here is to challenge the legitimacy of his political rivals simply because they oppose his legislative goals," Froomkin stated to ABC News.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
