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One of two Black Democrats expelled last week from the Republican-led Tennessee House was reinstated Monday after Nashville’s governing board voted to send him immediately back to the legislature.
A unanimous vote by the Nashville Metropolitan Council reinstated Rep. Justin Jones is running for office just four days after the Republican was stripped of his seat.
Republicans expelled two lawmakers last week for their roles in gun control protests on the House floor after a deadly school shooting.
Another MP, Justin Pearson, could be reappointed Wednesday.
The county legislature is authorized to fill local vacancies in the Tennessee statehouse until a special election can be held to fill the remaining two-year terms.
A special election for the seat will be held in the coming months. Jones and Pearson have said they plan to run in a special election.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s spokesman, Doug Kufner, indicated that anyone appointed to the vacancy by the government of Nashville and Shelby County “will sit as a representative as required by the constitution.”
House Majority Leader William Lamberth and Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison said they would welcome back the expelled lawmakers if they were reinstated.
“Tennessee’s constitution provides a path back for deportation,” he said in a statement. “If any of the expelled members will be re-appointed, we will welcome them. Like everyone else, they must abide by the rules of the DPR and the law of the land.”
Republicans in the Tennessee Legislature have voted to remove two Democrats, two Black men, from their seats to protest in support of gun control. But the third Democrat who participated in the protest – a White woman – survived the vote, raising concerns that the race could be a subtext.
Fellow Democrats say skin color is a factor in deportation
The third Democrat targeted for ouster, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, also attracted national attention in the US
Johnson, who is white, was not expelled by a single vote. Republican lawmakers justified the vote split by saying Johnson had no role in the protests: he didn’t speak with a megaphone, for example.
He told reporters that “it might have something to do with the color of our skin.”
Thursday’s evictions put Tennessee on a new front in the battle for the future of American democracy and thrust ousted lawmakers into the national spotlight.
Republican contentious races matter
Political tensions rose as the three joined hundreds of protesters who gathered at the state Capitol last month to demand gun control measures.
As protesters filled the gallery, lawmakers approached the front of the House chamber honking their horns and joining in the chants.
The scene opens days after the shooting at Covenant School, a private Christian school where six people were killed, including three children.
The ousted MP has filled his legal team. Eric Holder, who served as attorney general under former president Barack Obama, is now representing Jones.
“The world is watching Tennessee,” attorneys for Jones and Pearson wrote in a letter Monday. “Any partisan retributive actions, such as discriminatory treatment of elected officials, or threats or actions to prevent funding for government programs, would be unconstitutional actions requiring redress.”
Republican leaders say the expulsions, a mechanism that has only been around since the US Civil War, have nothing to do with race and instead should avoid a precedent that lawmakers disrupting House proceedings through protests will be tolerated.
Expulsion has generally been reserved as a punishment for legislators accused of serious actions, not used as a weapon against political opponents.
This week, the world witnessed another mass shooting at a school in the U.S. Three 9-year-old students and three staff members were killed. Andrew Chang discusses how this school shooting has been particularly politicized by some members of parliament.
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