Facing expulsion over gun protest, Tennessee Democrats accuse GOP of 'scare' tactics

[aubiefifty 18,259]

Facing expulsion over gun protest, Tennessee Democrats accuse GOP of 'scare' tactics

It will take two-thirds of the House to officially expel a member. The Tennessee House is made up of 75 Republicans and 23 Democrats, with one vacancy.

 

955

Marquise Francis

·National Reporter

Thu, April 6, 2023 at 10:11 AM CDT

 

 

 

State Reps. Justin Pearson, Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson leave the House chamber in the state Capitol in Nashville on Monday. (Nicole Hester/USA Today Network via Reuters)

When Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson joined two colleagues in boisterous chants for gun reform on the state Capitol’s House floor last Thursday during a recess between bills, it was largely because she knows firsthand about the lasting trauma of those who have experienced a school shooting.

After the school shooting in Nashville last week that claimed the lives of six people, including three children, Johnson recalled her own experience 15 years ago.

She was a teacher at Central High School in Knoxville in 2008 when a student fatally shot a 15-year-old classmate during a dispute. As her memories flooded back, Johnson said she felt silenced by the majority Republican-led House for not formally bringing a gun control discussion to the floor — so she and two other representatives took on the responsibility themselves.

 

“As an educator who’s been in a school when there was a school shooting, we have to [make] this issue paramount,” Johnson, who represents Knoxville, told Yahoo News, recalling the psychological damage of the 2008 shooting on the community. “It was a trauma-filled day and a sad day — and we lost a life. It had a serious effect on students.”

Johnson and two fellow Democrats, Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis — who have since gained notoriety as the “Tennessee Three” — said they understood they were violating decorum when they approached the podium last week with a bullhorn chanting, “No action, no peace!” They were echoing the sentiments of thousands of students, parents and community members they had met earlier that day, many of whom were shouting from the gallery above the chamber, growing impatient as the House worked through various pieces of legislation, none of which addressed guns.

The trio had expected consequences for their action, but they had not expected it would cost them their seats.

 

Protesters in the gallery at a House session at the Tennessee state Capitol on Monday demanding action for gun reform laws. (Seth Herald/Getty Images)

Republicans on Monday introduced legislation to expel the three Democrats for “disorderly behavior,” with GOP House Speaker Cameron Sexton likening the public display to an “insurrection.”

“What they did was try to hold up the people's business on the House floor, instead of doing it the way that they should have done it, which they have the means to do,” he said on "The Hal Show Podcast" that evening. “They actually thought that they would be arrested. And so they decided that them being a victim was more important than focusing on the six victims from Monday. And that's appalling.”

Sexton did not return Yahoo News’ request for comment.

Republicans also stripped the lawmakers — who represent the state’s three largest cities, with about 80,000 constituents each — of their committee assignments and revoked their building access. Final votes for the expulsion were set to take place Thursday.

'Chilling effect across the country'

Johnson said that if she and her fellow legislators were expelled, “this is going to have a chilling effect across the country, especially in red states.” She added, “It’s going to scare people from talking about real issues. … [Republicans] thought they would take this opportunity to take these respected voices in the state away and didn’t take a second to think about what they were doing.”

Pearson, who was elected to his seat in January, accuses Republicans in the state House of being “silently complicit" with gun companies, resulting in an “erosion of democracy.”

“There were thousands outside wanting us to stand up,” Pearson told Yahoo News, noting that he comes from a community that too often suffers from gun violence. "We want action so we don’t have this issue. This is indicative of the silencing.”

Leaders across the country have echoed his sentiment.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed Tennessee Republicans for taking swift action on the Democrats’ protest while failing to consider measures that could prevent another school shooting.

“What did the Republican legislators do? They’re trying to expel these three Democratic legislators who joined in the protest,” Jean-Pierre said Tuesday, adding that Republicans “are shrugging in the face of yet another tragic school shooting, while our kids continue to pay the price.”

Guns are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents under the age of 19, after taking the lead over car accidents in 2020, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2021 alone, firearms accounted for almost 1 in 5 deaths of children.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, where the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history took place in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary, called the move to expel the legislators “bone-chilling.”

“I’m not excusing yelling out of turn on the House floor,” Murphy tweeted Tuesday. “Civility still matters in politics. But expulsion is an extreme measure of last resort, not the first step when someone breaks the House floor rules. And the double standard tells you everything you need to know.”

Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called the possible expulsion “infuriating and antidemocratic.”

Jones, who at 27 is one of the youngest members of the Tennessee House, told CNN Wednesday that the move to expel him and his colleagues is “morally insane.”

"It's very concerning, and it represents a clear and present danger to democracy all across this nation that should trouble us all," he said.

 

State Rep. Justin Jones talks Monday to a group of high school students staging a sit-in calling for gun reform. (Nicole Hester/USA Today Network via Reuters)

Some critics, including Thomas Goodman, an assistant professor in the Department of Politics and Law at Rhodes College in Memphis, say there are other ways to be disruptive while respecting procedure.

“I fear this could lead to a chilling effect on other Republican-led states, possibly deterring the voicing of dissident opinions in states where abortion laws and gun control policy do not neatly align with the majority’s views,” Goodman said in an email to Yahoo News. “But why limit it to Republican-led states? What about the potential for Democratic-majority states to act in similarly abusive ways?

“Democrats in other states could continue expressing their opinions and offering dissent, but through mechanisms that do not disrupt parliamentary procedures, within acceptable parliamentary channels,” he wrote.

Concerns of a double standard

The move to expel the three Democrats has also raised criticism of a double standard in the Republican-controlled state House, which in recent years has declined to take action against a member accused of sexual misconduct and against another facing an indictment for violating federal campaign finance laws.

“Evidently these are not expulsion-worthy displays of unethical behavior or lack of decorum,” Carrie Russell, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, told Yahoo News in an email, while acknowledging that such a move “signals that dissent and protesting against the stated agenda, regardless of the context, will procedurally engender the most extreme measures — rendering their seats vacant and removing the ability of the voters in the states’ most diverse districts to receive representation in the halls of government.”

 

State representatives enter the House chamber before a session Monday as protesters call for gun reform. (Seth Herald/Getty Images)

Since the Civil War, just two other members of the Tennessee House have been expelled, for much more egregious reasons. Most recently, in 2016, Rep. Jeremy Durham, a Republican, was removed over allegations of sexual misconduct involving at least 22 women. In 1980, Rep. Robert Fisher, a Republican, was expelled after being convicted of soliciting a bribe in exchange for attempting to prevent pending legislation from going through.

Political experts say a move to remove legislators for protesting out of turn would set a troubling precedent.

“Expulsion directly removes a duly elected official. It takes the decision out of the hands of the electorate,” Susan Haynes, an associate professor of political science at Lipscomb University in Nashville, told Yahoo News, adding that expulsion in this circumstance “lessens the threshold for what qualifies as an expellable offense.”

She added, “Neither the Tennessee Constitution nor the U.S. Constitution specifies what constitutes an expellable offense, so there is significant ambiguity there. But if we make this a political decision and weaponize the process, it sets a dangerous precedent.”

Jana Morgan, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee and co-author of the book "Hijacking the Agenda: Economic Power and Political Influence," told Yahoo News she sees two possible outcomes of an expulsion.

“Expelling these legislators would immediately strip thousands of Tennesseans of elected representation in the state Legislature, and the expulsion proceedings could work to silence the voices that these members aimed to amplify,” she said. “At the same time, the ripple effects from this expulsion effort could actually galvanize the supporters of the Tennessee Three, as well as gun control advocates across the state and country.”

 

Protesters gather outside the Tennessee state Capitol on March 30 to call for stronger gun laws. (Cheney Orr/File Photo/Reuters)

In an atmosphere of rising tensions, Republican Rep. Justin Lafferty, who had been taking video of the gallery with his cellphone, allegedly assaulted Jones on Monday and grabbed his phone as he tried to capture the scene on the House floor, while protesters in the gallery above chanted, “Fascists!”

“This is a sad day for Tennessee,” Jones said in a tweet capturing the moment.

Johnson called the incident an example of “privilege” at work. But beyond the infighting and tense exchanges in the past week, she says, lives are at stake. Having been in elected office off and on for a decade, Johnson said she has seen a reduction in bipartisan work for the greater good.

She recalls that when she was first elected in 2013, it was a time when “we were on both sides of the aisle, but we would get along. Now there’s a meanness with this new class even more. It’s concerning, and we are moving further and further away from democracy.”

Republicans push back

Still, Republicans appear to be holding their ground.

Republican Rep. Gino Bulso, who sponsored Johnson’s expulsion, said on an appearance on the conservative "Daily Wire" podcast on Wednesday that the three lawmakers must be disciplined.

"They voluntarily disqualified themselves from further service," he said. "Rather than comply with their oath to the Constitution and comply with the rules, they decided to go outside of the House and effectively shut it down. And so what we're simply doing is recognizing that they've voluntarily chosen to put themselves outside the House and formally expel them."

It will take two-thirds of the House to officially expel a member, and the Tennessee House GOP has the votes to do that, with 75 Republicans, 23 Democrats and one vacancy.

“It is my sincere hope that cooler heads will prevail, and that the members will be dealt with in a way that fits robust dissent, not insurrection,” Russell of Vanderbilt said.

 

During a Tennessee House session on Monday, protesters look down from the gallery. (Seth Herald/Getty Images)

Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, has some questions for the state House. “The key question is whether the lawmakers are being punished for their actions or their speech,” he said. “If no one has ever been expelled for comparably disruptive behavior in the chamber, there’s a strong argument that they’re being punished for their speech, which would violate the First Amendment. … This has the feel of retaliation for criticism directed at House members.”

Pearson said Thursday he believes this is likely to be his last week as an elected official. But the work, he says, never stops.

“I expect the majority of those people to expel us in an attempt to expel us [as people], but you can’t silence us,” he said. “We are going to continue to do the work to not be silenced.”

Cover thumbnail: Seth Herald/Getty Images

 

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

Done.

 

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

i know this is a huge victory for you....................enjoy it knowing you are a hypocrite.

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

Just now, aubiefifty said:

i know this is a huge victory for you....................enjoy it knowing you are a hypocrite.

Why would I care about Tennessee state politics?  You should be rejoicing, however, another insurrectionist gets his due.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

4 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Why would I care about Tennessee state politics?  You should be rejoicing, however, another insurrectionist gets his due.

they protested at a recess. how soon you forget majorie greene and others antics during sessions at the capital and they were never reprimanded. ol teenage girl chase was part of it. majorie should have been kicked out hollering at trump during his address the nation speech. state of the union! thats it. so again you are being hypocritical because it is your side doing it it is ok but anyone else? nope. lets run over them if they get in the road. lets arrest them. lets beat em. try harder.

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

1 minute ago, aubiefifty said:

they protested at a recess. how soon you forget majorie greene and others antics during sessions at the capital and they were never reprimanded. ol teenage girl chase was part of it. majorie should have been kicked out hollering at trump during his address the nation speech. state of the union! thats it. so again you are being hypocritical because it is your side doing it it is ok but anyone else? nope. lets run over them if they get in the road. lets arrest them. lets beat em. try harder.

I believe the recess was to calm the crowd down and he did everything he could to rile them up. Not smart on his part.

Marjorie showed no class yelling at Biden, but that is who she is.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

1 minute ago, I_M4_AU said:

I believe the recess was to calm the crowd down and he did everything he could to rile them up. Not smart on his part.

Marjorie showed no class yelling at Biden, but that is who she is.

majorie did the same damn thing and not one thing happened. see how that works? and how much longer are yoooooooooouuuuuu righties going to allow the getz or however you spell his name........the ped keep on working. you guy seem to hate peds until it is one of yours. prove me wrong.

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

3 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

majorie did the same damn thing and not one thing happened. see how that works? and how much longer are yoooooooooouuuuuu righties going to allow the getz or however you spell his name........the ped keep on working. you guy seem to hate peds until it is one of yours. prove me wrong.

Man, you are off your rocker.  Majorie did not help incite a protesting crowd when she called Biden out during the State of the Union speech.  It was uncalled for and rude, but that is it.

Matt Gaetz has been cleared of those charges:

Lawyers for Mr Gaetz released a statement that said the case had been dropped without any charges filed.

The two-year investigation tried to determine whether the congressman had crossed state or international borders to have sex with underage girls.

Mr Gaetz, a loyal ally of former President Donald Trump, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

"We have just spoken with the Department of Justice and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation... [into] allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have determined not to bring any charges," his lawyers said on Wednesday.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64644518

There, I just proved you wrong.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

4 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Man, you are off your rocker.  Majorie did not help incite a protesting crowd when she called Biden out during the State of the Union speech.  It was uncalled for and rude, but that is it.

Matt Gaetz has been cleared of those charges:

Lawyers for Mr Gaetz released a statement that said the case had been dropped without any charges filed.

The two-year investigation tried to determine whether the congressman had crossed state or international borders to have sex with underage girls.

Mr Gaetz, a loyal ally of former President Donald Trump, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

"We have just spoken with the Department of Justice and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation... [into] allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have determined not to bring any charges," his lawyers said on Wednesday.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64644518

There, I just proved you wrong.

it never popped up on yahoo. the last i read was taking minors across state lines and all that. i guess someone paid off the right people on your side huh? that is what you do right?

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

Just now, aubiefifty said:

it never popped up on yahoo. the last i read was taking minors across state lines and all that. i guess someone paid off the right people on your side huh? that is what you do right?

He’s a Republican, it’s not going to *pop up* on any US MSM.  The only one reporting the news is BBC.  Gaetz released a statement, but somehow the US only reports the news it deems worthy.

There is no amount of money that would persuade Biden’s DOJ to drop the case.  It must mean he was innocent.

[CoffeeTiger 5,880]

Republicans are really good at making themselves look like the bad guys in almost every situation. 

 

And then they are confused and freak out when they see the new generations  growing up to be politically and socially liberal even when being raised by Conservative families. 

 

 

[Mims44 2,004]

16 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

i know this is a huge victory for you....................enjoy it knowing you are a hypocrite.

I enjoy the hell out of it. It's democrats in this story but republicans do it too and I can't stand it.

I want my politicians to actually do their jobs and not just scream about crap.

 

You know the reasons citizens do this stuff? To get the politicians attention. 

You know the reason politicians do this? Because they aren't interested in making any real change but want good publicity points for doing nothing.

I would love it if they were insta-expelled every time one of these people come up and basically say, I'm putting forward no paperwork, no ideas, no solutions. Just here to scream near incoherently while my picture is taken.

[Mims44 2,004]

16 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

they protested at a recess. how soon you forget majorie greene and others antics during sessions at the capital and they were never reprimanded. ol teenage girl chase was part of it. majorie should have been kicked out hollering at trump during his address the nation speech. state of the union! thats it. so again you are being hypocritical because it is your side doing it it is ok but anyone else? nope. lets run over them if they get in the road. lets arrest them. lets beat em. try harder.

This EXACTLY.

She needs to be gone too. 

Being in politics should not be the same workload as being a 'twitter head' or 'instagram model'

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

Talk about race baiting:

 

Her excuse was she didn’t speak in a voice any louder than anyone else on the floor knowing full well the other two used a bullhorn to chant those slogans.  Seems a little disingenuous to me.

 

She only survived by one vote and her distinction about not raising her voice is probably what saved her.  In other words; she threw her colleagues under the bus to save her seat.  A real hero.

[homersapien 12,244]

4 hours ago, Mims44 said:

This EXACTLY.

She needs to be gone too. 

Being in politics should not be the same workload as being a 'twitter head' or 'instagram model'

That ship has sailed thanks to Trump, MAGAs and Qanon.

(And it was Gingrich who first devised the strategy.)

Edited April 7, 2023 by homersapien

[TitanTiger 21,246]

This seems like a bad overreaction to what they did.  I get it was out of order, disruptive, and disrespectful.  You expect better decorum and ability to discuss issues from elected representatives than just some average agitator out there.  But a public rebuke, censuring, removal from committees seem like more than enough punishment to fit the "crime" here.

[CoffeeTiger 5,880]

5 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

Talk about race baiting. 

Lol

I don’t know why Southern Republicans are always so shocked that everyone else in the world doesn’t give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to race.

 

Racist who treat Black people differently very rarely come out and admit they are racist. They always have other ‘reasons’ for why they do it….not expelling the one white Democrat because she ‘wasn’t as loud’ certainly isn’t the slam dunk defense against accusations of racism you think it is. 
 

 

 

 

[PUB78 1,413]

39 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

Lol

I don’t know why Southern Republicans are always so shocked that everyone else in the world doesn’t give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to race.

 

Racist who treat Black people differently very rarely come out and admit they are racist. They always have other ‘reasons’ for why they do it….not expelling the one white Democrat because she ‘wasn’t as loud’ certainly isn’t the slam dunk defense against accusations of racism you think it is. 
 

 

 

 

Or racists who treat whites, light skin blacks and Hispanics different? You forgot to mention them too.

[aubaseball 2,827]

On 4/6/2023 at 5:19 PM, aubiefifty said:

it never popped up on yahoo. the last i read was taking minors across state lines and all that. i guess someone paid off the right people on your side huh? that is what you do right?

Can’t except the truth when it’s right in your face.   Bong hit coming up! 

[Gowebb11 9,875]

Some of the same Tennessee lawmakers who thought the violent Jan 6th insurrection was a peaceful protest are treating their colleagues who peacefully protested as violent insurrectionists. 🥴😅

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

3 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

not expelling the one white Democrat because she ‘wasn’t as loud’ certainly isn’t the slam dunk defense against accusations of racism you think it is. 

What I thought was ironic is she had her excuse to save her position that basically threw the other two under the bus.  If she was *all in* with her comrades, why wouldn’t she just stand with the other two and go down in solidarity?  Then she comes out and says she was saved because she was white after begging to keep her job.  That is about as disingenuous as you can get.  If anyone was racist it was her and she is now implying race had something to do with it.

ETA: it isn’t racist to expel representatives that break House rules.  

Edited April 8, 2023 by I_M4_AU

[TexasTiger 14,310]

37 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

What I thought was ironic is she had her excuse to save her position that basically threw the other two under the bus.  If she was *all in* with her comrades, why wouldn’t she just stand with the other two and go down in solidarity?  Then she comes out and says she was saved because she was white after begging to keep her job.  That is about as disingenuous as you can get.  If anyone was racist it was her and she is now implying race had something to do with it.

ETA: it isn’t racist to expel representatives that break House rules.  

It’s unheard off. Censure. You don’t remove elected reps over noise.

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

22 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

It’s unheard off. Censure. You don’t remove elected reps over noise.

Tennessee does.  VP Harris is down there to set them straight, all is good.

[icanthearyou 4,468]

Second amendment is clearly greater than the first amendment.

So, the sword is mightier than the pen.  The gun mightier than the spoken word.

The concept of might makes right is greater than right making might.

Go to church, believe in god but,,, trust in your weapons.  Always be prepared to kill.

You cannot have an equal, just, verdant society without that society being heavily armed.

[I_M4_AU 8,943]

Part of VP Harris’ speech.  She is passionate.