I HAVEN’T PAID MUCH ATTENTION to the AWOL Texas legislators, but Bill Hobbs has.

When the 14th Amendment was up for ratification in Tennessee, the same thing happened — a bunch of legislators absented themselves to avoid a quorum. The Sergeant-at-Arms hired Pinkertons, chased them down (one was recovered after “a wild night-chase over mountains on mule-back”), and brought them to the Capitol. They were then marked “present” and locked in a closet until the voting was over. Thus, Tennessee became the first state of the old Confederacy to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.

Not that I’m suggesting a parallel here or anything. I just won’t ever get another chance to use that story.