WASHINGTON, DC – Following Senator John Cornyn’s announcement today that the FBI will help track down Democratic Texas lawmakers who left the state to stop an extreme GOP redistricting plan, CAC Vice President Praveen Fernandes issued the following reaction:

The attempt to go after elected state officials—who have been charged with no crimes and who are merely resisting an antidemocratic, mid-decade redistricting—was already deeply troubling.  The prospect of the FBI now getting involved, without any clear legal justification, should only deepen the alarm for all Americans, regardless of political party.  The FBI’s mission is not only to keep the American people safe, but also to uphold the Constitution of the United States.  Politicized federal enforcement activity—in service only of an autocratic President and a single political party—contradicts that mission.  All Americans should understand that this development threatens our constitutional form of government, and that our rights and freedoms are at stake.