Governor Abbott orders arrest of Texas Dems in legislative standoff

Dallas attorney Jeremy Rosenthal covers the latest legal topics making headlines including a man who had too many toes removed during surgery!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, So Legacy Retirement Group dot Com phone line,

(00:02):
nine minutes after seven o'clock. He is our guy on
the scene in Dallas, Texas, Texas defense firm dot Com,
probably sitting in the golf cart on the first tea,
waiting to go this morning. It's Jeremy Rosenthal Jr. What's
going on you guys?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
You got to remember you're an hour ahead of me,
So no, we're stretching right now. We're okay, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you're in an hour. I'll be on You're correct.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, on the practice screen working out some of those
yips and making sure the short game's looking all right. Yeah,
I know what's your too.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's Wednesday, Okay.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Still a little early for this, I understand. I want
to ask you about a situation happening there in Texas
with the walkout by the Texas Democrats. You know, they
they fled the state so they didn't they couldn't vote
on the redistricting map there. Uh. They have rules apparently
that fine lawmakers five hundred bucks a day if they

(01:00):
break a quorum, which these Democrats have done, and GOP
leadership there has taken it a step further. They want
to arrest them when they come back to Austin. So legally,
what's the story here?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
We do this like every few years in Texas and
everybody sort of gets angry and pretends to be angry,
and then they make some sort of a deal and
then they come back. Breaking a quorum is as old
as representative democracy. It's like a filibuster. It's in Texas.

(01:33):
It's not exclusive to us. They've done it in Oregon,
the GOP lawmakers there. And the question is is what's
the what are we going to do to try to
end this or get this back? And is that that's
kind of like the nuclear option in Washington right when
they when they talk about getting rid of the filibuster,
it's a ploy and to some degree you kind of

(01:54):
got a negotiated away if if that's what you're going
to do. The registrict in question is a whole other
ball of wax, because it looks like it could trigger
some kind of an arms race, if you will. Gavin
Newsom Kathy Hokol from New York is that they're all
the blue states are threatening to redistrict, and the red

(02:16):
states are going to retaliate by redistricting, and all of
our at some point, all of our voting districts are
going to have two hundred and forty eight sides, and
we're just gonna reminisce about the days when it was
a trapezoid.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, it's funny to me Jeremy Rosenthal, Texas Defense Firm
dot Com, because I mean, this is performative right when
they leave the state and they go to Illinois, which
is largely one of the most gerrymandered state in the nation,
it's kind of ironic there. But I mean nothing, it's
just it's to prove a point. Nothing is going to
be resolved because of these Democrats leaving the state. It

(02:56):
just to raise awareness of the fact that they're not
happy with the way that the maps are drawn in
your state of Texas.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
I think that's right. I think this is one hundred
percent theater. I think on really from everybody. Because how
here's how this resolves. Texas our legislator. Our legislators meet
once every two years. We just got out of session.
The session was from January of twenty five and it

(03:24):
just let out in June. The governor can call special
sessions for thirty days segments at a time. That's what's
happening now. Our legislators, they these are these are working people,
which is really kind of cool. It's kind of special
that that that are that are that our representatives are
in the community. They're dry cleaners, their accountants, their restaurant tours,

(03:44):
they're hopefully a lot of lawyers. They are people who
have to make a living. And that's sort of why
this will break because these the Democrats who are in Chicago,
they may get wined and dined and that's probably cool
for a week. They're losing money. They're losing money, and
they're they're away from their family. And Greg Abbott knows

(04:05):
that if he calls one to three special sessions, they're
going to get people who break. And once they come
back to the state, the law requires that the Department
of Public Safety come and drag him to Austin where
when they get the mandate, then they get the mandate.
And and the Democrats know that, and they're probably to
some degree that probably not yet, but at some point

(04:25):
they'll start negotiating with with with the Republicans from from Illinois.
They'll they'll be like, okay, well, all right, you guys
will give us an okay, fine, we'll come home. They
know it's going to happen, so so that that's probably
how this resolves.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, I think you're probably right. Speaking with Jeremy Rosenthal,
Texas Attorney, Texas Defense Firm dot com. The other story
is a wild one I wanted to get your thoughts on.
This is in Alabama, the Fountain Correctional Facility and at More, Alabama.
You got an inmate there who was bitten by a spider.
He was given antibiotics by the prison health care provider,

(05:00):
but the infection spread into his feet and he went
to the doctor. They're like, we're going to have to
remove some toes, and they went back and forth on this,
and he said, now you can just just remove my
big toe, that's the one that's got the most damage
to it. And then when he wakes up from his
you know, sleepy time anesthetic, you know, going under, he

(05:23):
sees that all of the toes on his right foot
were removed. So now he doesn't have any toes. Jeremy,
and he only approved one toe to be removed. What
is what are his recourse.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Here talking about a bad dream? Huh? Well, oh my gosh,
they're all gone. Yeah, this is terrible. It really it
really is. I mean, these are people and sometimes they
get dehumanized by by being a jail, being an inmate
and all these things. Actually believe it or not, this

(05:57):
is probably a more difficult road then you would imagine.
It is difficult to see to sue the state. The
state has what's called sovereign immunity, meaning that you can't
sue the king. That's that's what sovereign immunity is, and
only in really limited circumstances. And then there's cap sport
with all types of money, and there's all sorts of
trick wires at any time you're assuming the prison. This

(06:20):
was a doctor who was a third party, a contractor
who could who can probably try to hide behind. Uh.
The sovereign immunity really probably the scariest thing for me
at well, other than the spiders and other than the
toes and all that stuff. From a legal standpoint is
I don't know if this this guy might be going

(06:41):
to pro sae, he might be representing himself, and if
he does, he's simply got no prayer. No, it's too hard.
But look, I mean, the guy's got a five year sentence,
he's going to get out. And the guy is a
laborer for a living. Those toes matter, so I'm with him.
Give him, give him, give him everything.