Michael McAuliffe, former prosecutor and former state attorney, told Newsweek the FBI’s involvement is «well beyond alarming.»
Senator John Cornyn’s announcement that the FBI will step in to help locate Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to deny quorum over a mid-decade redistricting bill raised alarms for legal analysts.
The FBI denied to comment when reached by Newsweek on Thursday morning.Why It Matters
The announcement from Cornyn, a Texas Republican, raised questions about whether this is a proper, or political, use of the FBI.
Texas Republicans are seeking to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries to give Republicans an advantage and thwart potential losses in the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats left the state to deny quorum and block a vote on the bill, which they view as blatantly partisan gerrymandering. Several other Republican states are eyeing redraws ahead of the midterms, setting off a redistricting arms race that could see several states with new maps by next November.What To Know
Cornyn said in a statement that FBI Director Kash Patel approved his request «for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats.»
«I thank President Donald Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas», he wrote. «We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities.»
Michael McAuliffe, a former federal prosecutor and former elected state attorney, told Newsweek that the use of the FBI to find the lawmakers is «well beyond alarming.»
«The FBI’s function is to investigate potential violations of federal law, conduct specified national security functions, and perform background investigations for potential presidential nominees», he said. «Nowhere in the statutory list of powers that I know of is tracking down political officer holders of an opposition party.
«The assignment to pursue state elected officials without clear investigative jurisdiction is a crass abuse of the immense authority of the Bureau. It’s an insult to the thousands of special agents who took an oath to protect the nation, not answer the call of politicization.»
The FBI being used for this amounts to «pure, naked political purposes» and is a «bull’s-eye hit on the rule of law», he said.
