Texas Democrat Nicole Collier Sues After Republicans Lock Her In Capitol

Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier filed a writ of habeas corpus on Tuesday in the district court of Travis County, Texas, claiming the state legislature’s Republican majority has unlawfully detained her in the state Capitol after she refused to consent to 24-hour police surveillance.

Collier, a Democrat representing Forth Worth, is one of over 50 Texas Democratic legislators who fled the state on Aug. 3 to block Republicans from enacting a new congressional map at President Donald Trump’s urging to create five new GOP seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Most of the Democrats who fled the state returned Monday and quickly faced retaliation from Republicans. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican, required each Democratic legislator to sign a permission slip agreeing to have a 24-hour police escort to ensure they attended votes regarding the new map. The House is scheduled to reconvene on Wednesday. Collier refused to sign the slip and was subsequently locked on the House floor with armed guards keeping her there.

“Representative Collier has been informed that she is not free to leave the Capitol,” the lawsuit states. “Chairman of the Committee on House Administration Charlie Geren informed Representative Collier, ‘If you leave the Capitol you are subject to arrest.’”

Collier’s suit argues this is effectively an illegal confinement. Burrows “does not have the power to compel any Texas citizen or any elected official into preemptive custody,” her suit argues.

Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier, a Democrat, challenged her detention at the state Capitol in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The legislative majority party can compel attendance by absent members in order to obtain a quorum, the minimum number of legislators present to do business, by directing the sergeant-at-arms to arrest and return absent lawmakers. That was settled in a court case in 2021. But, it does not have the power to detain or hold in custody a lawmaker due to a concern that they may be absent in the future, or as punishment for previously being absent.

“The plain language is clear: a member may be compelled by the Sergeant-at-Arms to attend a legislative session if he or she is physically absent, but no such power is conferred on the Legislature to arrest or otherwise compel a member who is currently present (and not absent) to stay,” her lawsuit states.

Burrows’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Collier’s lawsuit.

Collier has spent the past 24 hours locked inside the state Capitol, mostly on the House floor, although she was informed she can go to her office within the building.

The push for a new congressional map began when Trump’s Justice Department sent a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, demanding the state legislature draw new maps eliminating certain districts with Black or Latino majorities or pluralities based on an incorrect reading of a recent court decision. Abbott assented and called for a special session to pass new maps. The proposed maps did exactly what Trump asked for and turned five seats currently held by Democrats into five GOP-majority seats. The vast majority of Democratic state lawmakers fled the state to deny the legislature a quorum.

After the first special session failed, those Democrats claimed victory by pointing to the introduction of legislation by Democrats in California to counter the Texas GOP’s redistricting with a pro-Democratic redistricting push of their own. The quorum-denying Democrats then returned to the state as Abbott called a second special session to pass the Trump-approved maps.