“Texas Democrats had been out of state for less than 48 hours when Gov. Greg Abbott moved to have their seats declared vacant,” the Texas Tribune reports.

“The emergency legal filing represents an unprecedented escalation of Abbott’s effort to pass a new congressional map that adds additional GOP seats, as demanded by President Donald Trump. It flies in the face of Texas’ own founding documents, centuries of legal precedent and a recent Supreme Court of Texas ruling…”

“But just because legal precedent is not on his side doesn’t mean Abbott’s case is doomed. The long-shot filing is before the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court, where Abbott has appointed six of nine justices.”

Harry Litman: “It’s difficult to overstate how dangerous this moment is. Using the machinery of criminal justice

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