Tennessee House will be back in session after expelling 2 lawmakers

The Nashville Metropolitan Council on Monday voted to reappoint Justin Jones to Tennessee House of Representatives, sending the ousted lawmaker back to occupy the House District 52 seat as an interim representative.  

The decision to return Jones to his seat came after the council voted to suspend a procedural rule that prevents an individual from being nominated and appointed to the seat in the same meeting. 

The GOP-dominated House voted to expel the state representative last week after he and two other Democrats called for gun reform on the chamber floor

The vote to appoint Jones passed 36-0 with no one abstaining.  

Minutes before the Nashville Metropolitan City Council were to decide on whether or not to suspend rules and vote former Rep. Justin Jones as an interim member of the House of Representatives, Councilman Brett Withers urged his colleagues to place Jones back in his seat after the lawmaker was expelled Thursday along with former Rep. Justin Pearson.

Withers told Tapper he believes there will be enough votes to place Jones back in his seat and that the council is hearing from supporters throughout the state.

Withers said there are many in the community who want Jones back in his seat.

Withers told Tapper he believes that racism played a role in the expulsion and has been an issue in the General Assembly.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton talks with Rep. William Lamberth during expulsion proceedings for three House Democrats on the floor of the House chamber on Thursday, April 6, in Nashville. (George Walker IV/AP)

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton will not prevent ousted representatives Justin Jones or Justin Pearson from being seated if their local governing bodies appoint them to serve as interim representatives in their former districts, a spokesperson for the Republican Speaker's office tells CNN. 

The Metropolitan Council in Nashville is expected to vote this afternoon during a called special meeting at 4: 30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m.ET).

The chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners has also called a special meeting to consider reappointing Justin Pearson to his former seat as the District 86 State Representative.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, at 1:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET).

Justin Jones carries his name tag after a vote at the Tennessee House of Representatives to expel him for his role in a gun control demonstration at the statehouse in Nashville. (Cheney Orr/Reuters)

The Nashville mayor's office has quietly been encouraging council members to vote to reinstate Justin Jones into his former seat as an interim successor, according to a metro official with knowledge of events happening.

At a special meeting called for Monday afternoon, the Metropolitan Council will officially announce the vacancy of the District 52 seat, then vote to nominate Justin Jones to fill the seat. 

Then, council members will vote to suspend the rule prohibiting an individual from being nominated and appointed within the same meeting allowing the council to vote to formally appoint Jones to the Tennessee House as soon as Monday afternoon. 

The special meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. ET).

The expulsion of Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Tennessee House was a rare move. The House has only expelled two state representatives in the last 157 years.

The first expulsion, in 1980, was of a representative found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office, and the most recent came in 2016 when another member was expelled over allegations of sexual harassment.

Democratic Rep. Joe Towns called the move a “nuclear option.”

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, Kathy Sinback, called the move in a statement a “targeted expulsion of two Black legislators without due process.”

“It raises questions about the disparate treatment of Black representatives, while continuing the shameful legacy of disenfranchising and silencing the voices of marginalized communities and the Black lawmakers they elect,” Sinback added.

Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were kicked out of the legislature by their colleagues in a vote Thursday. A third member also up for expulsion, Rep. Gloria Johnson, survived the vote, which required two-thirds majority support in the Republican-dominated chamber.

Jones' and Pearson's pictures and profiles had already been removed from the state’s General Assembly website, a symbol of the vacant seats that now need to be filled.

All three had been accused by Republicans of “knowingly and intentionally” bringing “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives” after they led a gun control protest on the House floor last month without being recognized, CNN affiliate WSMV reported.

In the wake of a deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, which killed three 9-year-olds and three adults, Jones said he and other lawmakers were blocked from raising the issue of gun violence on the House floor, with their microphones being cut off whenever they raised the topic, according to WSMV.

According to the expulsion resolutions, Jones, Pearson and Johnson “began shouting without recognition” during their protest and “proceeded to disrupt the proceedings of the House Representatives.” Video showed the trio using a bullhorn.

Republican leaders in the chamber condemned the lawmakers’ actions and moved quickly to remove their committee assignments and schedule a vote for their expulsion. Jones, Pearson and Johnson decried the Republicans’ actions as oppressive, vindictive and racially motivated. Jones and Pearson are both young, Black men while Johnson is a White woman.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton called their actions “unacceptable” and argued that they broke “several rules of decorum and procedure on the House floor.”

District 29 council member Delishia Porterfield during a Metro Nashville Council meeting on February 7. (Nicole Hester/The Tennessean/USA Today Network)

During Monday's special meeting of the Metropolitan Council in Nashville, Delishia Porterfield, the person who ran against Justin Jones for the District 52 seat in the primary election and lost, is expected to nominate him to serve on an interim basis, Vice Mayor Jim Shulman told CNN’s Isabel Rosales.

If the council successfully suspends the rule prohibiting nominating and appointing an interim representative during same meeting, they will likely vote "on the board," Shulman said. After the votes are counted, the results will be visible on the screen.

A simple majority — 21 of the 40 members — is required to appoint Jones.

In this November 2022 photo, Hendrell Remus, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, speaks in Nashville after election officials confirmed more than 200 votes have been cast in the wrong races in Nashville since early voting began. (Mark Humphrey/AP)

As local leaders in Nashville prepare to potentially send an ousted lawmaker back to the Tennessee House of Representatives, a member told CNN Sunday that he is unaware of any threats of political retribution for their decision.

On Saturday, Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Hendrell Remus said Memphis and Shelby counties received threats that they could lose funding if they reinstate the other ousted state representative, Justin Pearson, until holding a special election.

“If that is the case, they need to stop with those kinds of threats. We need to ensure stability here amongst relations from the state and local municipalities,” Syracuse added.

How the vote will work: During Monday’s meeting, the council will vote on whether suspend the rules which typically do not allow a member to be nominated and appointed in the same meeting, Syracuse told CNN.

If two or more members oppose that process, the measure will fail. If that happens, it would be at least four weeks until the council could vote to appoint Jones back to his seat, Syracuse said.

Syracuse said he did not believe Jones deserved to be kicked out of the legislature.