Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier is fighting back in court after not being allowed to leave the state Capitol because she refused to sign a “permission slip” that would have required her to be under 24-hour supervision by a law enforcement officer.
Collier on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the state House of Representatives after House Speaker Dustin Burrows required Democrats to sign a waiver that would compel them to be under the supervision of the state Department of Public Safety until they return to the Capitol for the official legislative session on Wednesday.
Collier, an attorney who represents Fort Worth, refused to sign the agreement and instead chose to sleep overnight inside the House chamber in protest. “I won’t just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination,” she previously said.
According to Collier’s writ of habeas corpus filing, she was told that if she did not sign the permission slip and attempted to leave the House chamber, she would be arrested.
“The government is without any legal authority to detain members when a quorum is not needed to conduct business,” reads the lawsuit, which demands that Collier be “immediately released” by the Sergeant-at-Arms.
“She files this action on behalf of herself, mindful that all Citizens have the right to object to illegal restraint by the government,” the lawsuit says.
Collier on Tuesday morning shared that she slept inside the Capitol building following the threat to have her arrested. A photograph she shared on social media showed the Texas lawmaker wearing a bonnet and sleeping mask as she was compelled to remain in the House chamber alone.
Earlier this month, Collier and dozens of other House Democrats fled the state of Texas to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts in a political strategy to break quorum and prevent Republicans from passing a newly redrawn congressional map that they say is racially discriminatory against the state’s Black and Hispanic voters.
After Republicans issued civil arrest warrants and financial penalties for each day they remained out of state, Democrats returned to the state on Monday. However, they were met with the permission slips in an effort by Republicans to ensure they did not again flee and delay legislative business.
In her lawsuit, Collier argues that her confinement is a violation of the Texas State Constitution. While it does permit the Sergeant-at-Arms to compel her attendance, she argues, “The legal question before this Court concerns only whether the Texas Constitution gives the House of Representatives the authority to physically compel the attendance of absent members.”
However, Collier’s suit presents a legal question of whether she can be detained or arrested because she was previously absent but is now present.
The lawsuit explains, “If the legislature is in session on Wednesday and Representative Collier is not physically present in session, the Sergeant-at-Arms is permitted to compel her attendance pursuant to article III, section 10, of the Texas Constitution…However, unless she is physically absent, the Legislature is without authority to detain her or compel her attendance.”
Collier’s writ habeas corpus adds, “no such power is conferred on the Legislature to arrest or otherwise compel a member who is currently present (and not absent) to stay.”
“There is no calendar for the House today. There is no calendar for tomorrow, or any upcoming date. There is no pending vote. There is no action on which a quorum is needed,” the lawsuit argues. “[Collier] is not absent, and – thus – her appearance need not, and cannot, be compelled.”
