Memphis Officials Return Second Expelled Tennessee Dem to Statehouse

On Wednesday, local government officials in Memphis, Tennessee, made a decision to reinstate a second Democratic state lawmaker who was expelled for protesting against gun violence on the chamber floor. This comes one week after Republicans who are in control of the state House of Representatives expelled Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two Black lawmakers in their late 20s that recently joined the legislature for a peaceful demonstration against gun violence on March 30.

The state’s Democrats have deemed the expulsions anti-democratic.

Justin Jones has already been reinstated after councilors in Nashville, where his district is located, voted unanimously on Monday to restore him temporarily. Justin Pearson, whose district is located in Memphis, was permitted to return to the State Capitol in Nashville on Thursday to be sworn back in after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted in favor of restoring him on an interim basis until a special election can be held for the remainder of his two-year term.

During the March 30 demonstration, Pearson and Jones, along with fellow Democrat Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, disrupted a legislative session in the well of the House floor. They were supported by Nashville residents outraged by a mass shooting at a school in the city earlier in the week in which a former student killed three 9-year-olds and three staff members. Although Johnson also breached House decorum rules, she was not expelled. Johnson told reporters after the votes that she believed she was able to retain her role because she’s white.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate have requested an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice to scrutinize if the expelled government officials’ constitutional rights were violated. Furthermore, the Tennessee Democratic Party has reportedly received more than $400,000 in political contributions within the week following the expulsion, exceeding the amount received during the previous three months combined.

Before heading to the commissioners’ meeting, Pearson, Jones, and Johnson, along with about 500 supporters, spoke in front of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, stating that the expulsions were conducted hastily and without careful consideration of other corrective action methods. On Thursday, Pearson and Jones intend to call on House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, to resign, calling him an “enemy to multiracial democracy,” for the Republican-controlled legislature’s failure to pass common-sense gun laws.

The Republican Party, which has a supermajority in the Tennessee House of Representatives, released a statement earlier this week declaring that they will “welcome” back any expelled state lawmakers restored by county-level governments as long as those members conform to the legislature’s rules.

The expulsions have brought immense attention to Jones and Pearson from Democrats across the country, including a recent visit from Vice President Kamala Harris to show her support.

Reporting by Omar Younis in Memphis and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Mark Heinrich, and Aurora Ellis.