Federal lawmakers are calling for the Department of Justice to investigate the expulsion of two Tennessee state lawmakers after a peaceful gun-control protest on the House floor two weeks ago.
Three Tennessee House members — Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), and Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) — faced expulsion from the body last week by the Republican supermajority that claimed the three broke decorum rules. Johnson, who is white, survived the vote. Jones and Pearson, who are Black, were expelled. Both Jones and Pearson were returned to the House by local government bodies in Nashville and Memphis.
Now, five U.S. Senators, including Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), asked the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to review the episode. They want to know if there were any violations of the United States Constitution or federal civil rights laws.
“Silencing legislators on the basis of their views or their participation in protected speech or protest is antithetical to American democracy and values,” the Senators said in a Wednesday letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “We cannot allow states to cite minor procedural violations as pretextual excuses to remove democratically elected representatives, especially when these expulsions may have been at least partially on the basis of race. Allowing such behavior sets a dangerous — and undemocratic — precedent.”
The senators want to know if the Tennessee General Assembly violated the rights of “tens of thousands of of Tennessee citizens” to be “represented by the legislators of their choice.” They also want to know if the body violated the rights of Pearson and Jones under constitutional protections against discrimination.
“The Tennessee state legislature has reportedly never previously expelled a member over purely procedural violations,” reads the letter. “Instead, previous expulsions have involved serious allegations of ethical or criminal misconduct. In taking this radical action, rather than responding to the intolerable violence inflicted upon a Tennessee community, the Tennessee House of Representatives chose to silence Black members of their own body who were protesting nonviolently, in response to violence.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) has also asked for an investigation of the situation. He wrote to Garland Thursday calling the votes to expel the two a “disproportionate response to the Representatives’ breach of decorum.” For this, Cohen cited his 24 years of service in the Tennessee state Senate prior to his terms in the U.S. House.
“While all three Representatives violated the rules of the House in their advocacy, expulsion is disproportionate discipline,” Cohen wrote. “The expulsion of a legislator from a legislative body inherently substitutes the judgment of other legislators for that of the district’s constituents.
“It should be reserved for conduct that is so egregious that it makes the elected official unfit to serve. The Tennessee House of Representatives, however, removed Representatives Jones and Pearson for ‘disorderly’ conduct after protesting gun violence.
“This chilling event may have deprived these state legislators of their constitutional rights and, just as significantly, the rights of their constituents to be fully represented in the state legislature. The Tennessee House of Representatives has only expelled members twice since the Civil War. Those instances were very different.”
