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In a rare move, the Republican-led House of Representatives in Tennessee expelled a Democratic lawmaker for speaking out of turn on the House floor after the recent mass shooting at a Nashville school. Justin Jones, one of the three lawmakers who spoke about gun control, was voted out of the House on Thursday afternoon.
However, his colleague, Gloria Johnson, was able to retain her position as lawmakers failed to obtain the two-thirds majority necessary to expel her. The third Democrat, Justin Pearson, also faced a potential motion to oust him.
JUST IN – Tennessee House has expelled Rep. Justin Jones (D) for unruly conduct on the House floor last week. pic.twitter.com/kb4WhSdSBU
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 6, 2023
Republican members drafted the resolutions to punish the three Democrats for “disorderly behavior” after they interrupted a House session on March 30, claiming the trio had broken rules about preserving order and displaying political messages.
Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett commented on the House floor, saying, “What happened one week ago is that the members that shut the order of this institution down silenced seven million people. One week ago we had members take it upon themselves to rush the well and stop the people’s businesses.”
Before the vote, Mr. Jones called the proposed expulsions a “power grab.” “The world is watching Tennessee because what is happening here today is a farce of democracy,” Mr. Jones said.
https://twitter.com/drugseeker_/status/1644076747393212420?s=20
In their drafted resolutions, the Republicans allege that the three Democrats “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”
The White House criticized the vote on Thursday, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stating that “The fact that this vote is happening is shocking, undemocratic and without precedent.”
The three lawmakers have started referring to themselves as “the Tennessee three” and walked into the House chamber on Thursday morning with their fists in the air as protesters cheered for them, according to videos on social media.
Expelling a member is uncommon in any US state legislature. Thursday’s vote in the Tennessee House could potentially be the first time a state lawmaker has been removed from a legislature after a gun-control debate.
Well he’s a fascist.
— ??Saint Patrick Kane (@Kanerchy) April 6, 2023
The state attorney general’s office said the Tennessee House has previously expelled members three times in its history, in 1866 “for the contempt of the authority of this House,” in 1980 for accepting a bribe, and in 2016 after a representative was accused of sexual misconduct.
If the Democrats are expelled, election officials are then required under Tennessee law to hold a special election to replace them. Messrs. Jones and Pearson could run for their old seats again. State Democrats and thousands of protesters have been pressuring Tennessee Republican leaders to make it harder to buy guns following the state’s most high-profile mass shooting in years.
Six people, including three children, were killed in the late March shooting at a private Christian school. The shooter had legally obtained the guns used at the school and fired more than 100 rounds in roughly 15 minutes, authorities said.
Recent years have seen Republican supermajorities in the Tennessee legislature expand gun access. State Democrats said in the wake of the mass shooting last week that they planned to renew efforts to propose gun control measures that haven’t been adopted. One of the potential measures is a red-flag law, which would let authorities take away guns from people a court deems dangerous.
https://twitter.com/Churchwell1776/status/1644087125124739074?s=20
House leaders stripped the protesting Democrats from their committee assignments last week for disrupting the floor session, according to House Speaker Cameron Sexton. Mr. Sexton, a Republican, did not return a comment request but said on Twitter Monday that the three Democrats had acted unacceptably. Mr. Pearson, one of the three Democrats, criticized the pending expulsion vote as anti-democratic.
Legislators from other states and organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have criticized the attempts to expel the three Democrats.
“Attempting to expel three lawmakers without due process for amplifying the voices of their constituents in a peaceful, non-violent manner undermines democracy.” – ACLU in Tennessee
It’s about time they started enforcing rules
— Random A Hole (@randomAhole209) April 6, 2023
