Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Texas seeking judicial declarations that 13 Texas House seats have been vacated due to continued unlawful absences by Democrat legislators who missed the return deadline set by Speaker Dustin Burrows.

The Texas Supreme Court should vacate the seats of 13 state House Democrats who left the state, Attorney General Ken Paxton argued in petitions filed Friday afternoon. Paxton’s filings, known as quo warranto petitions,

In court papers filed Friday, the Democrats argued that their quorum-breaking tactic is an affirmation of their legislative duties, not an abdication of it.