The two seats will be filled by special elections and Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who were expelled, can run again. Here's what to know.
Rep. Justin Jones was expelled from the Tennessee Legislature for using a bullhorn to shout support for pro-gun control protesters in the House chamber. Thursday afternoon, while sparing a third white colleague of that fate, after the trio of lawmakers led a protest on the House floor last week.
. In 1980, then-Rep. Robert Fisher, also a Republican, was expelled after being convicted of soliciting a bribe in exchange for attempting to block pending legislation.Race takes center stage in expulsion proceedings Johnson added that she believed Jones and Pearson had been treated differently than she ahead of the votes.
the expulsion votes. “A disastrously amoral day for Tennessee House Republicans in a state reeling from a school shooting.”, called the voting results “outright racism.” Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons of Nashville argued that the footage shot on the House floor was itself a violation of the chamber’s rules that prohibit House members from recording or live streaming ongoing proceedings.
“Insurrection is a crime. ... The three Tennessee Democratic lawmakers broke House rules, but did not rebel or rise up against the authority of the U.S.” Garrett, who began Republican arguments against Jones, reiterated his view that “rules here are for order.” “You, who celebrate July 4, 1776 — pop fireworks and eat hotdogs — you say to protest is wrong because you spoke out of turn, because you spoke out for people who are marginalized ... in a country built on people who speak out of turn, who spoke out of turn to build a nation,” Pearson said. “I come from a long line of people who resisted.
As some Republicans made the case that measures passed in the chamber since the Nashville shooting would help increase school safety, Democrats countered that they didn’t nearly go far enough. In the interim, local governing bodies in each district can appoint temporary representatives, according to theEarly indications point to both Jones and Pearson receiving the temporary appointments. At least 27 members of Nashville’s 40-seat Metropolitan Council, in Jones’s district,“Many believe that the council will vote to send Representative Jones back to the State House,” Russell said.
And while Jones and Pearson appear poised to win back their seats in the Tennessee House, the move to expel them in the first place may have longer-lasting implications. Jana Morgan, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, believes that the expulsion of the two Democrats could prove politically damaging for Republicans in the long term.
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