A judge in Illinois on Wednesday denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to enforce civil arrest warrants for the absent Texas House Democrats trying to stop a redistricting effort that could net Republicans five seats in the US House.

Judge Scott Larson of the Eighth Circuit Court of Illinois wrote that his court did not have the jurisdiction to do what Paxton sought – as many Democrats and legal experts predicted when Paxton filed his motion.

“As the petitioner has failed to present a legal basis for the court to obtain subject matter jurisdiction over this cause of action, this court is without jurisdiction to grant petitioner’s emergency motion to rule on pleadings,” Larson wrote in an order filed Wednesday. “As the court does not find that it has subject matter juri

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