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Justin Pearson, one of two Black Democratic state legislators whose expulsion earlier this month by Tennessee’s Republican-led House provoked national backlash, was reappointed Wednesday to his seat in the state’s House of Representatives.
Shelby County’s seven commissioners unanimously voted for Pearson, D-Memphis, to fill the interim seat in Tennessee’s District 86.
With the vote, Pearson will join Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, who returned to the House Monday backed by Nashville’s Metro Council. Both had been removed for leading gun-reform protests on the chamber floor following this month’s mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school.
Commissioner Erika Sugarmon praised Pearson after the vote.
“My heart is singing,” the Memphis Commercial-Appeal reported Sugarmon as saying. “You belong on the national level. … We need you here right now in this moment to continue the fight in Nashville. It’s not going to end today or tomorrow. It’s a journey.”
Pearson told those assembled after the vote that “we do not speak alone.”
“We speak together,” he said. “We fight together. So, a message for all the people in Nashville who decided to expel us: You can’t expel hope. You cant expel our voice. You sure can’t expel our fight.”
Posts on social media showed hundreds of marchers accompanying Pearson, his fist pumping in the air, as he headed from Memphis’ National Civil Rights Museum through downtown toward Wednesday’s special session at the county administration building.
Why were the lawmakers expelled?
Hundreds had assembled in the House galleries on March 30 to demand gun reform after six people, including three students, were fatally shot at The Covenant School in Nashville, the Volunteer State’s deadliest-ever school shooting.
Both Pearson and Jones, who are Black, had employed bullhorns during the protest and were expelled for violating House decorum. Along with Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, the so-called “Tennessee Three” had come under fire for approaching the podium in-session without being recognized.
On April 6, the House Republican supermajority removed Jones by a 72-25 vote and Pearson by a 69-26 vote after hours of rancorous debate. Johnson, who is white, avoided expulsion by one vote.
Monday, Nashville’s progressive-leaning council, responsible for filling Jones’ vacancy, voted to reappoint him to his seat on an interim basis pending a special election. Hundreds of cheering supporters likewise flanked Jones as he returned to the Capitol shortly afterward to be sworn in.
Senators call for DOJ investigation
The expulsions had sparked broad national fallout, prompting reaction from President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the NAACP, which framed the incident as “horrific (but) not surprising…. Especially in the South.”
In his defense prior to his expulsion, Jones called the process “a farce of democracy.”
Wednesday, Sen. Raphael Warnock and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Department of Justice to investigate the expulsion of two Black lawmakers from the Tennessee General Assembly.
The letter, also signed by Sens. Chris Murphy, Alex Padilla, and Brian Schatz, asked Garland “to use all available legal authorities” to determine whether the expulsion of state Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones violated federal civil rights law or the Constitutional rights of the lawmakers or their constituents.
The letter notes that the state legislature has reportedly never expelled a member for procedural violation before and that Pearson and Jones, who are Black, were expelled while Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white and also part of the protest, was not.
“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,” the letter said. “Allowing such behavior sets a dangerous—and undemocratic—precedent.”
Posting on social media afterward, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton called the legislators’ part in the protests “unacceptable” and described it as “an effort, unfortunately, to make themselves the victims.”
According to the Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, Sexton called on Jones to speak within minutes of his reclaiming his seat and was ultimately pushed to gavel supporters into order twice during Jones’ remarks.
“Today, 78,000 people have a voice in this chamber once again,” Jones said. “No expulsion, no attempt to silence us, will stop us.”
Contributing: N’dea Yancey-Bragg and Katherine Burgess
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