State Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, is suing for unlawful detainment after being trapped in the Texas capitol building for more than 24 hours.
Collier filed a writ of habeas corpus in Travis County Tuesday over charges of illegal confinement.
On Monday, Republican House officials prevented Collier from exiting House chambers after she refused to sign a permission slip that would provide her with a 24-hour Department of Public Safety surveillance escort until the close of the special session.
Democrats returning from the recent quorum break were forced to sign the permission slips to exit the building. The surveillance escorts are tasked with watching the lawmakers to ensure they don’t flee the state again as House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Gov. Greg Abbott attempt to pass a mid-decade redistricting map ordered up by President Donald Trump.
Collier spent hours trapped in the House chambers by herself before being allowed to move to her office, though she is still unable to leave the capitol building, according to her lawsuit.
“Representative Collier is under restraint by virtue of the Speaker of the House’s order placing her into the custody of law enforcement prior to the Wednesday, August 20, 2025 Session,” the petition reads.
“Representative Collier has been informed that she is not free to leave the Capitol,” it continues. “Chairman of the Committee on House Administration Charlie Geren informed Representative Collier, ‘If you leave the Capitol you are subject to arrest.'”
“At the moment that the directive was issued, I felt like it was wrong,” Collier told MSNBC’s Ali Vitali in an interview from the Texas House floor. “It’s just wrong to require grown people to get a permission slip to roam about freely. So I resisted.”
Collier said she will stay on the House floor “as long as it takes,” according to a report by The Hill.
“This is the fight that all of us have in resisting the end of our democracy, basically,” she said.
According to Collier, the time has gone for Texas Democrats to play nice.
“Typically they say, take that high road,” Collier told The Hill. “Well, you know, that high road has crumbled. We’re on a dirt road, and we’re going to meet them on that dirt road and get down and dirty, just like they are.”
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This article appears in Aug 7-20, 2025.