The Texas Democrat who slept in the state Capitol on Monday is accusing the state's House speaker of illegally confining her and threatening her with arrest. Why it matters: Rep. Nicole Collier's court filing is an escalation of a two-week standoff between Texas Democrats and Republicans over rare mid-decade redistricting,

A state lawmaker from North Texas slept on the Texas House floor on Monday night after refusing a Republican-mandated state trooper escort. State Rep. Nicole Collier said she “refuses to sign away her dignity" and is calling herself a political prisoner.

Democrat activists are protesting the confinement of Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier after the state representative spent Monday night in the Texas House chamber after refusing to submit to around-the-clock surveillance by the Department of Public Safety.