Tennessee House expulsion updates: Gloria Johnson survives expulsion
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In recent weeks, parents of school shooting survivors, students and gun-reform advocates have heavily lobbied against the bill, with one Covenant School mom delivering a letter to the House on Monday with more than 5,300 signatures asking lawmakers to kill the bill. Some Republicans outside the legislature have watched the proceedings with slight bewilderment, questioning why the House leaders would choose to target two young Black representatives and one of just 11 women in the 99-seat House over a protest on the chamber floor. During a chaotic session Monday, Tennessee House Republicans introduced resolutions to expel the three. Protesters in the gallery erupted into screams and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, called for the vote anyway. All three resolutions passed along party lines — making it difficult for Democrats to block the final vote today. Jones, the first lawmaker expelled when House members voted to adopt HR65 Thursday, called the resolution "a spectacle" and "a lynch mob assembled to not lynch me, but our democratic process."
Gloria Johnson
Although she's now retired, Johnson said that she still spends a lot of time on school campuses and that whenever she hears the cry of police siren or an ambulance, she jumps. "I represent 78,000 people and when I came to the well that day I was not standing for myself," Jones said. "I was standing for those young people ... many of whom can't even vote yet. Many of whom are disenfranchised. But all of whom are terrified by the continued trend of mass shooting plaguing our state and plaguing this nation." He called the majority Republican membership, many of whom have said they would vote to expel the members, a "lynch mob" that is eager to enact the "ultimate punishment" against himself, Johnson and Pearson. The school district's director of schools, the school principal and the chief of the "appropriate" law enforcement agency must sign off on a staff member's authority to carry a concealed handgun. Armed teachers, who will be required to undergo training that some opponents have argued is not intensive enough, will be allowed to carry handguns in their classrooms and in most campus situations without informing parents and most of their colleagues they're armed.
What happened during the protest?
The threatened expulsion of the three Democratic lawmakers had angered her, she said. “What happened one week ago was that members that shut the order of this institution down silenced seven million people,” said State Representative Johnny Garrett, a Republican who began a series of prosecutorial-style questions pressing the three lawmakers about their actions. By Monday afternoon, Republicans had filed the three resolutions of expulsion, saying that the lawmakers had sought to “knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor” to the House.
What are the 3 lawmakers saying?
The votes removed representation for nearly 150,000 Tennesseans who overwhelmingly elected Jones and Pearson. Appearing on a radio show last week, Speaker Cameron Sexton invoked the riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021 when describing the protests in Nashville, which consisted of a peaceful crowd of teenagers and demonstrators. Mr. Sexton later said he was referring only to the three lawmakers in his comparisons to the mob of rioters that tried to stop the certification of the presidential election.
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Who is Justin Pearson?
The trio has demurred this week on future plans, instead choosing to focus on the upcoming expulsion vote. Johnson on Monday indicated she was consulting with lawyers, though one attorney said pursuing a lawsuit could be an uphill battle given as the state Constitution gives the legislature express authority to discipline and expel its own members. “If after looking at his conduct, they vote he come back, we will recognize him as a representative,” Bulso said, referring to the floor protest as a "mutiny." Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, repeatedly stated Jones wanted to be expelled, but noted the Constitution would allow him to elected again after expulsion. Following the vote, Johnson said she couldn't feel good about her survival due to the expulsion of her colleagues. Johnson, a white woman, believed Pearson and Jones were treated differently due to their race.
Parents take a stand during protests
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Prior to the vote, Nashville mayor John Cooper said he was "proud" that the council was meeting and would "send (Jones) right back to continue serving his constituents." Jones, Pearson and Johnson called out Republican leaders for not responding to the push for gun restrictions in response to the mass-shooting crisis in the U.S. The expulsion vote took place one week after Reps. Johnson, Jones and Pearson used a megaphone to lead chants of demonstrators in the House gallery. Lawmakers began to take up the question of expelling three of their colleagues shortly after 1 p.m. During the proceeding, loud protests could occasionally be heard from off the chamber's floor.
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Seven Republicans voted against the motion to expel Johnson, three opposed Pearson's expulsion resolution, and one voted against Jones'. “My friends in school all called me Little Miss Law and Order because I’m a rule follower. And I know that rules sometimes have to be broken, and sometimes you have to get in good trouble," she added. Over the cacophony of protesters outside the House, Republican legislators began expulsion proceedings Thursday afternoon against the three Democrats. A third lawmaker, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, narrowly survived after lawmakers failed by one vote to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to expel her from the Tennessee General Assembly.
The House approved the measure as protesters shouted objections, nearly drowning out the proceedings with chants of “Not one more kid! ” At least one person was kicked out of the gallery by House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R). The Tennessee legislature passed a bill Tuesday that would allow teachers and school staffers to carry concealed handguns in schools, one of the most divisive steps taken by Republican leaders in the year since six people were killed by a shooter at a Nashville school. Johnson, 60, was first elected to the legislature in 2012 in District 13, one of the few true toss-up districts in the state.
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On March 30, Representatives Jones, Pearson and Johnson — whose districts are in Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis, the state’s three largest cities — interrupted the legislature by chanting “No action, no peace” on the House floor. Mr. Jones and Mr. Pearson, two of the youngest Black lawmakers in the chamber, had also used a bullhorn to engage with supporters in the galleries, and legislative proceedings were forced to a halt. "Today's expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent," Mr. Biden said. "Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly elected representatives of the people of Tennessee." House leadership has never overridden a member’s election for simply violating House rules. Only two House members have been expelled from the chamber since the 1800s, both after either criminal charges or sexual misconduct allegations.
Justin Pearson, 28, was the second member of the group to be expelled from the House and another of its youngest members. He was elected in a January 2023 special election after the incumbent, Barbara Cooper, had died. He represented the state's 86th district, which has about 64,000 residents and is part of Shelby County, where Memphis is located. Republicans, who hold a large majority of seats, immediately pledged a rapid response. (Pearson was newly elected and had yet to receive any committee assignments.) Motions to expel the three from the legislature were introduced by three different Tennessee Republicans on April 3, accusing the trio of "disorderly behavior."
"This is not about expelling us as individuals. This is your attempt to expel the voices of the people from the people's house. It will not be successful," Jones said before the vote to expel him. "Your overreaction, your flexing of false power has awakened a generation of people who will let you know that your time is up." The votes, held on Thursday, April 6, resulted in Justin Jones and Justin Pearson being expelled from the Tennessee State House of Representatives, while Gloria Johnson kept her seat by one vote. Representatives who are expelled can return to their office — by being appointed by the commission and/or by running again.
Republicans have argued properly trained teachers and staff can increase school security in the event of a security threat like a school shooter, particularly in rural areas where law enforcement may be thinly staffed and unable to respond to a threat quickly. "You're going to kill kids," one woman yelled down at Williams as members left the House on Monday. Meanwhile, other states have willingly moved to study reparations, including California, New Jersey and Vermont.
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