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“The second of two Tennessee lawmakers expelled from the state legislature after leading a gun control protest on the chamber floor has been reinstated. Justin Pearson, 29, got his seat back after a unanimous vote from seven members of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. His colleague Justin Jones, 27, was similarly voted back to the Tennessee House of Representatives on Monday…
“The two Democrats were expelled last week by the Republican-run statehouse… Republican members had accused three Democrats, Mr Pearson, Mr Jones and Gloria Johnson, of bringing ‘disorder and dishonour’ to the chamber when they led protesters at the statehouse on 30 March. Ms Johnson narrowly survived an expulsion vote. Republicans said she played a smaller role in the protest and did not use a megaphone. Ms Johnson, who is white, gave another explanation. ‘It might have to do with the colour of our skin,’ she said. Mr Pearson and Mr Jones are black.” BBC
The right condemns the legislators, but is divided as to whether they should have been expelled.
“The expelled lawmakers were kicked out because they led a mob onto the floor of the House, disrupted regular order, and, in one case, shouted at their colleagues through a bullhorn. Those are the facts. One can think that their punishment was too harsh. One can think, as I do, that their punishment was appropriate. But one cannot wave away what happened by pretending that it was a mere ‘protest’…
“For the last two years, Americans have been told — correctly — that storming into legislative chambers and interrupting their work is ‘undemocratic’ per se, and that, if we do not want to see more of it, it must be punished wherever it happens…
“For the record, I agree — and have agreed — very strongly with this proposition. And yet, the moment — the very moment — that a couple of lawmakers whom the media likes chose to invite a mob into a legislative chamber and to deliberately interrupted its work, the moral poles were reversed and it was those who objected who were deemed to be ‘undemocratic.’”
Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review
“A reasonable argument can be made that the Tennessee Republicans, by going straight to expulsion of the House members, have taken away all incentive to de-escalate. Had they gone with censure instead of expulsion, it would have been a measured tactic that set a standard for when the Democrats did a second disruption…
“I have several friends who are right-of-center and blasted the Tennessee Republicans for ‘playing to the base’ instead of being leaders… [But] when the press immediately takes the position most favorable to the Democrats and barely even addresses the legitimacy of the Republicans’ view, it signals to the GOP that the only thing they can do is play to the base. The press has taken away all incentive to seem reasonable. If the GOP were to censure, the press would still hail the Democrats as heroes and blast the GOP. So why do half-measures?”
Erick-Woods Erickson, Substack
“Despite the controversy surrounding the decision to expel the lawmakers, it seems that their efforts ultimately accomplished nothing. While they may have temporarily silenced Pearson and Jones, the Nashville Metro Council’s decision to reinstate Jones to his position as a council member shows that this whole thing was nothing more than the type of political theater America has come to expect in this current political climate…
“If the GOP wants to make progress on protecting our liberties, they have to rely more on substance than on silly political stunts like this. Sure, it might make people feel good. It might make it seem as if the party is actually fighting on behalf of the conservative agenda. But how many times have we seen them pull off these performances without actually accomplishing anything?”
Jeff Charles, RedState
The left condemns the expulsions, arguing that they were disproportionate and ignored public concerns about gun laws.
The left condemns the expulsions, arguing that they were disproportionate and ignored public concerns about gun laws.
"As in most American legislatures, Tennessee lawmakers have generally reserved expulsion for the most egregious transgressions. Before last week, only two of the state’s House members had been ousted in more than a century and a half — one for taking a bribe, the other for multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Plenty of disruptive, disrespectful and even potentially criminal behavior has gone entirely unaddressed…
“Mr. Pearson and Mr. Jones, by contrast, were banished for using a bullhorn to lead a mass of demonstrators in chants for more restrictive gun legislation in the wake of a school shooting that killed three children and three adults. The protest was rowdy but peaceful. No property was damaged. No one was arrested or injured. When the Tennessee House speaker, Cameron Sexton, called for security to clear the chamber’s galleries, the crowd left.”
Editorial Board, New York Times
“Republicans’ lust for vengeance and opprobrium not only failed — it backfired. They made martyrs of their marks. People in Tennessee and across the country were outraged by the severity of their treatment of fellow legislators, their underlying obduracy on the question of gun violence and the unavoidable racial symbolism of it all. The expelled lawmakers became causes célèbres…
“Republican lawmakers’ unwillingness to confront the problem of gun violence may have been the spark, but the broader problem that the Justins and their Democratic colleagues are challenging is Tennessee’s anti-democratic turn — a turn that’s emblematic of the broader Republican Party, now energized by election denialism, fears of racial ‘replacement’ and resistance to a fast-changing cultural landscape. There’s also an issue at play that doesn’t receive enough attention: the efforts of Republican legislators to disempower big — and Democratic — cities in their states.”
Charles M. Blow, New York Times
"Republicans, in their anti-democratic efforts to remove members inconvenient to their ideology, have in effect lost on all counts. By so blatantly disregarding public concern after a horrifying mass shooting, they’ve awakened and mobilized thousands of Tennesseans who may have previously been apolitical, unmotivated, or even conservative…
“They’ve brought nationwide attention to their misdoings—not just the expulsion of members who stood in solidarity with parents, teachers, and students but also the way they have used their supermajority to make up their own rules, filing bills with no notice to the public and killing other bills on no coherent basis… Millions of people are now monitoring Republicans’ every single move—and what they choose to do with every one of the 15 gun control bills Jones has promised to file.”
Prem Thakker, New Republic
