Tennessee Legislature Set to Expel Three Democrats for 'Disorderly Behavior' During Gun-Control Protest
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Tennessee's Republican-led House of Representatives is set to expel three Democrats on Thursday, a rare punishment after they spoke out of turn on the House floor following last week's mass shooting at a Nashville school.
The House is scheduled to vote on resolutions to force out the three representatives who spoke about gun control: Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.
Republican members drafted the resolutions to punish the three Democrats for “disorderly behavior” after they interrupted a House session on March 30. The members said the trio had broken rules about preserving order and displaying political messages.
The three Democrats had stood at a podium for about five minutes with a sign that said “Protect kids not guns.” They used a bullhorn to chant “no action, no peace” while protesters yelled outside the House chamber.
“There comes a time when you have to do something out of the ordinary,” Mr. Jones said on Twitter . “We occupied the House floor today after repeatedly being silenced from talking about the crisis of mass shootings.”
In addition to the protest on the House floor, they had joined demonstrators in the chamber and outside the state capitol in Nashville.
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.
“The fact that this vote is happening is shocking, undemocratic and without precedent,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Messrs. Jones and Pearson and Ms. Johnson didn’t return comment requests. They have started referring to themselves as “the Tennessee three.” They 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 .
State legislators can be expelled from the Tennessee House or Senate under the state’s constitution as long as two-thirds of their chamber votes for the expulsion. The House has a Republican supermajority with 75 Republicans and 23 Democrats. The House and Senate only work part-time.
It is unusual for any U.S. state legislature to expel a member. Thursday’s vote in the Tennessee House marks potentially the first time a state lawmaker could be kicked out of a legislature after a gun-control debate. The state attorney general’s office said the Tennessee House has 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 three Democrats are expelled, election officials are then required under Tennessee law to hold a special election to replace them. Messrs. Jones and Pearson and Ms. Johnson 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.
Republican supermajorities in the Tennessee legislature have expanded gun access in recent years. 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.
House leaders stripped the protesting Democrats from their committee assignments last week for disrupting the floor session, House Speaker Cameron Sexton told reporters Monday.
Mr. Sexton, a Republican, didn’t 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 votes as anti-democratic. He vowed on Twitter to keep pushing for legislation that could stop gun violence.
“This is about absolute power and control over the people inside and outside the House who are demanding change,” he said on Twitter Thursday.
Legislators from other states and organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union have criticized the attempts to expel the three Democrats. State Innovation Exchange, a progressive group, arranged for hundreds of U.S. state lawmakers to sign a letter to Speaker Sexton condemning the potential expulsions.
The ACLU in Tennessee said, “Attempting to expel three lawmakers without due process for amplifying the voices of their constituents in a peaceful, non-violent manner undermines democracy.”
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The first of three radical democrats who tried to incite an insurrection has been expelled.
This is a breaking story.
Careful you are going to get the PC police after you.
Those weren't insurrectionists- even though they forced their way past police and took over the House. They are "mostly peaceful protestors".
Those Democrat politicians weren't inciting an insurrection. They were just directing the anger of those "mostly peaceful protestors" in the proper direction. Giving it the proper focus. That is after their fellow Congress people were forced to flee. If something bad would have happened; it wouldn't be their fault. Republicans had it coming. Why can't they simply comply to Democrat demands? Democrats weren't in any danger from their "mostly peaceful protestors".
Not for the first time the Republicans are cutting their own throats. Sure in Tennessee they are firmly in control, but this video and news is going out to the rest of the country and Republicans will be losing votes by the minute. Its self-destruction.
Because Americans support insurrectionists; and especially those politicians that incite the insurrectionists.
The fact those 3 Democrats haven't been charge with incitement further proves our two tier justice system.
I think it's hard to overestimate what a bad look this is for Republicans.
The lefties are always making attention getting demonstrations and loud noises to signal their virtue and give that they're "doing something" about a situation
They do it all the time, it's part of their tactics. Issues like gun control and climate change come to mind.
Ms. Johnson? Oh yeah, she's a real radical ... @!@
So mobs are back in and democracy is bad, per the progressives.
2020- Mobs Great!
2021-2022: Mobs are the worst thing ever!
2023: Mobs are Great Again!
When I look at the videos of what is happening in the Tennessee capitol building today, and I have looked at them , I see peaceful but loud young people protesting injustice. They are no threat to the building or to the law enforcement personnel lining the halls of that building.
What in the world are you looking at?
Their is no injustice either. More toothless gun laws aren't going to make any difference.
"More toothless gun laws aren't going to make any difference."
Not when liberal Democrat politicians won't even enforce the existing laws.
How about this - they just voted on the white lady and the vote failed.
Lets see what happens when the second black guy comes up in a little while. This could go from bad to worse.