'Tennessee Three' Lawmaker Justin Jones Silenced Again by GOP-Led House

Updated August 30, 2023, 11:23 a.m. PST

• Republican lawmakers have silenced Rep. Justin Jones for the second time this year after claiming he violated newly enacted rules, preventing him from speaking and debating for the duration of Monday's session.
• Jones, of the so-called Tennessee Three, has been a vocal activist for gun control reform. He gained wide recognition when he was silenced, along with two of his Democratic colleagues, Reps. Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson, for his role in a gun control protest outside the Tennessee Capitol earlier this year. 
• His silencing comes a week into a special session called by Republican Gov. Bill Lee to discuss the March shooting at The Covenant School.
• Jones was silenced after criticizing legislation that would allow more law enforcement officers in schools in response to gun violence rather than introducing mental health and gun control legislation. He said:

“What our schools need are mental health professionals. We need funding for mental health, for counselors. We need to pay our teachers better. We don’t need more police in our schools.”

• House Speaker Cameron Sexton told Jones he was straying off topic, which defies rules adopted last week by the GOP-dominated chamber. The rules allow the House to silence members who are not sticking to discussion on the bill being debated. Under the new rules, members can be silenced for a day or the rest of the year for non-compliance.
• The move to silence Jones was approved by 70 lawmakers. The decision led to loud cries and chants that drowned out proceedings for several minutes before Sexton ordered the gallery to clear out. The crowd included gun control advocates, who shouted “fascists” and “racists” as troopers led them out.   
• One of the new rules approved by GOP lawmakers is a ban on the public holding signs during proceedings. A judge has since blocked the ban after arguing that it likely violates free speech rights.

Updated April 12, 2023

• Shelby County Board of Commissioners reappointed Rep. Justin Pearson to his seat in the Tennessee House. Chairman Mickell M. Lowery of the commission said:

“I think that it’s important that the people of District 86 are represented by the person that they voted overwhelmingly to have in the office.”

• Pearson was voted back in by a simple majority and has returned to the legislature on an interim basis. Like Rep. Jones, he can run in the special election to regain his seat. 
• Wednesday afternoon, Pearson led a march from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis to the Shelby County Commission building, telling his followers, “Show me what Democracy looks like. He said:

“This is the Democracy that is going to transform a broken nation and a broken state into the place that God calls for it to be. This is the Democracy that is going to lift up the victims of gun violence instead of supporting the NRA and the gun lobbyists.”

Updated April 11, 2023

• Nashville's Metro Council unanimously voted to reinstate Rep. Justin Jones to his seat in the Tennessee House. Jones is back on an interim basis until the special election, where he will run for the position. 
• Vice Mayor Jim Shulman said during Monday's meeting: 

"Justin Jones has been elected to the vacancy of Tennessee House 52 pursuant to the state law and the rules governing the Metropolitan Council."

• Jones returned to the state Capitol shortly after the vote to be sworn back into office. After returning to his desk, he said:

"I want to welcome democracy back to the people's house...Truth crushed to the ground will rise again. No injustice attack on democracy will happen unchallenged."

• Meanwhile, commissioners are set to meet tomorrow, Wednesday, to discuss reappointing Rep. Justin Pearson in Shelby County.

Updated April 10, 2023

• The representatives expelled from the Tennessee House — Justin Jones and Justin Pearson — could soon return to their seats in the state legislature.
• Nashville's Metro Council could vote Rep. Jones in to fill the vacant position on an interim basis as early as Monday night. Members of the Nashville council publicly stated that they hope to return Jones to his position. Once the board appoints an interim House nominee, Jones can run in the county's special election and carry out his term. 
• For Rep. Pearson, reappointment could happen later this week at a meeting of the Shelby County Commission in his district. Commissioner Erika Sugarmon said there is a high chance that Pearson will be reinstated, as he has enough supporters in the commission. Shelby County will also hold a special election to fill the seat, which Pearson can run in. 
• The reps said they are working to return to their place as lawmakers. Jones told NBC:

"We will continue to fight for our constituents."

What’s the story?

• Two out of three Democratic representatives in Tennessee who attended gun control protests on the chamber floor following the Covenant School shooting in Nashville have been expelled from the Republican-dominated House.
• Both ousted reps, Justin J. Pearson and Justin Jones, are black men. Gloria Johnson, the third rep at risk of expulsion, is one of the few women in the House.
• The three were singled out in the General Assembly for their part in anti-gun protests. During the demonstration, the three reps held a sign that said, “Protect kids, not guns,” and used a megaphone to demand stricter gun laws.

The Republican reaction

• In an apparent act of retribution, the Republican-led House voted to expel the three reps in a dramatic seven-hour session representing the third expulsion since the Civil War.
• The Reps voted along party lines. The vote to expel Jones was 75-25; 65-30 for Johnson; and 69-29 for Pearson, which narrowly kept her short of the two-thirds majority needed to expel a rep successfully. 
• While there was no criminal wrongdoing or negligence on the parts of the reps, the Republicans said their conduct violated appropriate decorum for representatives, saying they “intentionally [brought] disorder and dishonor” to the House and “proceeded to disrupt the proceedings of the House Representatives.”
• The expulsions were carried out under Article II, Section 12 of the Tennessee Constitution, which states that the House can “punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.”

What the Democrat Reps said

• Rep. Johnson said:

“They’re trying to silence the voice of the people that have different ideas in them, and to me that’s incredibly scary. That is going to have a chilling effect, not only on the people in Tennessee, but across the country, when they see in the states with supermajorities that they can just expel members for a few minutes of speaking when they don’t have permission.”

• Rep. Jones said:

“My community is still grieving here in Nashville. And a week after this mass shooting, the first major action from the Republican supermajority is to expel and oust three of us for demanding action on gun violence.”

• During his expulsion, Rep. Jones stated:

“We called for you all to ban assault weapons and you respond with an assault on democracy.”

• Rep. Pearson said:

“We have to think about the power of peaceful protests to help create change, and to say that our peaceful protest deserves our expulsion because we were advocating for gun laws and gun control is just asinine.”

• After the vote, Rep. Pearson, who is white, speculated that she was saved from expulsion by her skin color. Advocates have been demanding “justice for the Tennessee Three,” a woman and two men of color, in front of the State Capitol in light of the expulsion.
• Joe Biden condemned the decision:

“Three kids and three officials gunned down in yet another mass shooting. And what are GOP officials focused on? Punishing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action. It’s shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”

Contact Speaker of the Tennessee House, Rep. Cameron Sexton, and demand justice for the Tennessee three.

—Emma Kansiz & Jamie Epstein 

(Photo Credit: Twitter)