"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
— Ninth Amendment to the US Constitution

When the Texas legislature decided to engage in the reapportionment of congressional districts in the middle of this summer — having just done so in 2020, in response to the nationwide census that year — the Democrats in the lower house decided that the only way to prevent this was to leave the state and thereby deny the legislature the two-thirds quorum needed in order to enact legislation.

Stated differently, President Donald Trump — fearful of a Democratic House in 2027 — asked Texas officials to realign the state's congressional districts so as to make it more likely that additional Republicans would be sent to the US House of Representatives from the Lone Star State as a result of the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

Congressional districts are customarily drawn at the conclusion of the decennial census; but no federal or state law prevents the realignment whenever a state legislature pleases.