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Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones, one of the “Tennessee Three” lawmakers who was reelected after his expulsion for joining protesters demanding gun control, is now suing the speaker of the state House — alleging that he was unconstitutionally silenced.
Jones, a Democrat who represents Nashville, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, in federal court there. The complaint also names the state and three administrative officials as defendants, alleging they blocked Jones from “expressing views on critical issues,” after he was removed from office and later prohibited from speaking in a debate following his reelection.
Who are the ‘Tennessee Three’? Here’s what to know.
The Tennessee Capitol drew national attention when Republicans expelled Jones along with Rep. Justin J. Pearson, a Democrat who represents Memphis, saying they disrupted proceedings as protesters came to the state capitol after a Nashville school shooting in March killed six people, including three 9-year-olds. The expulsion in April was seen as a historic act of partisan retaliation.
Tennessee House expels two Democrats in historic act of partisan retaliation
The two were reinstated on an interim basis before winning back their seats in special elections in August. A third Democrat, Gloria Johnson who represents Knoxville, survived the expulsion vote and kept her seat — something she said “might have to do with the color of our skin.” Johnson is White; Jones is of Black and Filipino descent, and Pearson is Black.
Expulsions from state houses are usually bipartisan and in response to a lawmaker committing a serious crime. Experts warn that this norm could be eroding. (Video: Joshua Carroll/The Washington Post, Photo: Brian Monroe/The Washington Post)
The Tennessee House’s Republican majority then voted in August to silence Jones for a day during a legislative debate in which he was twice ruled out of order. New rules adopted by the House mean members ruled out of order can lose the right to speak in legislative debates. Democratic members walked out with Jones in protest.
Sexton, the House speaker, ruled Jones out of order during that session after he reportedly called a Republican representative’s bills “asinine” and “reprehensible,” and criticized a proposal to install armed police officers in state public schools, saying schools needed more funding for mental health counselors instead.
Nashville school shooter who killed 6 was heavily armed, left ‘manifesto’
The complaint says it seeks to prevent Sexton and the state from “continuing to suppress dissent, whether through the updated House rules or otherwise, and to seek full restoration of the benefits, rights, and privileges that they illegally stripped from him (Jones) in retaliation for his protected speech.”
The lawsuit is seeking to block the speaker from preventing Jones from speaking on the House floor, to reinstate the lawmaker’s committee appointments and declare his removal from office earlier this year unconstitutional.
Tennessee vote marks latest GOP move to stifle dissent, experts say
Jones tweeted that his constituents “deserve to have their voices heard without the threat of undemocratic silencing and retaliation.”
His complaint alleges that efforts to expel him “were not borne out of a good faith effort to ensure decorum in the Chamber, but of a desire to silence and disempower a political rival.”
Republican lawmakers vote to silence ‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat for a day
Jones and his attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. Sexton also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
After the three Democratic representatives had joined in chants with protesters in the spring, Sexton called their actions at the time an “insurrection,” and said they had committed “multiple violations” of the General Assembly’s rules.
Andrew Jeong contributed to this report.
Source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/10/04/tennessee-three-justin-jones-lawsuit/