Newsweek contacted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who filed the legal petition, for comment via online inquiry forms on Thursday, outside of regular office hours.

The judge says he doesn't have the power to decide whether the Democrats were violating civil warrants issued by the Texas House.

An Illinois judge on Wednesday declined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) request to hold Texas Democrats who fled there in contempt. Paxton reached across state lines to seek a ruling that would effectively force the blue state to comply with efforts to arrest the lawmakers and return them to Texas to end their