Tennessee Democrat Justin Jones Reinstated to State House Seat After GOP Expulsion
© AP Photo / George Walker IV
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The state lawmaker earlier came under fire by the Republican-led Tennessee House chamber after he and two of his Democratic colleagues headed a brief protest calling for gun reforms in the wake of the Nashville mass school shooting. Six people, including three 9-year-old students were killed in that attack.
Just four days after being expelled from his post in the Tennessee General Assembly, state Rep. Justin Jones was voted unanimously on Monday to reclaim his seat in the state's House of Representatives.
Nashville's Metropolitan Council, which is responsible for filling Jones' seat after his Thursday ouster, agreed in a 36-0 vote to reinstate the Democrat as an interim representative for District 52 until a special election can be held. Jones will be eligible to run for reelection.
Footage from the vote count captured supporters applauding Jones' reinstatement and bursting into audible cheers.
Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones is reinstated in an unanimous vote by the Metro Nashville Council pic.twitter.com/I3zytfZJDp
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 10, 2023
Shortly afterward, Jones joined in a demonstration and marched back to the Tennessee state capitol alongside his supporters.
Reappointed TN state representative Justin Jones headed back into the house chambers right now pic.twitter.com/dYLOLNuuaK
— Kathy Park (@KathyParkNBC) April 10, 2023
Jones was expelled from the state House chamber on April 6 alongside fellow Democrat Justin Pearson. Although the expulsion initiative also included state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), the chamber failed to clinch the two-thirds supermajority needed in order to boot the lawmaker from her post.
The three lawmakers, dubbed the "Tennessee Three," were accused of breaking chamber rules after approaching the House podium during the session between bills in order to protest and call for gun reform in the wake of the Nashville mass shooting.
The expulsion, which drew national attention, has highlighted the role that race has played in the case. Johnson, who is white, relayed to local media that she believed Jones and Pearson were treated differently as both men are Black. Jones himself told US media that he "basically had a member call me an uppity Negro."
Robert Hockett, a lawyer and professor with the Cornell Law School, told Radio Sputnik's Political Misfits on Monday that the Tennessee case signaled the "last desperate acts" of the old guard. He explained that the case was twofold, proving that while lawmakers were being "more overt" about their "racialist motivations," it also marked last-ditch efforts to "cling onto power."
"It seems when you get to this sort of point.. when you’re just shamelessly doing these kinds of things, you might be entering the sort of terminal haze of your own capacity to be calling shots," Hockett said.
"Some of these racialist folks and these kind of old style reactionaries maybe they sort of see the writing on the walls, and they know that their days are numbered with demographic change underway right now and these are sort of last desperate acts on their part to try to kind of cling on to power ... and onto white power in particular as tenaciously as they possibly can in these sort of last waning months or years of that sort of arrangement."
Prior to the Thursday expulsion, only two other state House members had been expelled since the 1800s, both cases of which dealt with criminal charges or sexual misconduct allegations.
A meeting is expected to be held on Wednesday to determine a potential reinstatement for Pearson. Local media reported that at least one of Shelby County's 13 commissioners was in favor of reappointing Pearson to his post.
