Vote expected on returning expelled lawmaker to the Tennessee House

 Live updates: Tenneesee commission to vote on ousted lawmaker Justin J. Pearson (cnn.com)

Tennessee House has only expelled 2 state representatives in more than 150 years

Story by CNN

Written by Elizabeth Wolfe and Raja Razek

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.”

“You never use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat,” Towns said. “We should not go to the extreme of expelling our members for fighting for what many of the citizens want to happen, whether you agree with it or not.”

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.

Pearson says demonstration in House to highlight lack of action on gun control was justified

From CNN's Amir Vera

Expelled State Rep. Justin Pearson delivers remarks outside the state Capitol on Monday, April 10, in Nashville. (George Walker IV/AP)

Former Rep. Justin Pearson said he celebrated the fact that his colleague, Rep. Justin Jones, was reinstated Monday while also understanding another mass shooting had just taken place in Kentucky, not even a month after six people were gunned down in Nashville.

“It is multiple emotions — celebration and of the determination of the people who want to see justice happen with Rep. Jones being reseated and there’s also a painful moment of recognition that our legislators and people like (Speaker of the House) Cameron Sexton and the Republican party in Tennessee and across the South in this country are not doing nearly enough to prevent guns from getting in the hands of people and doing all the holistic work of gun prevention that is necessary in places across our communities,” Pearson told CNN on Monday.

Pearson and Jones were expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday after the two of them and Rep. Gloria Johnson staged a demonstration on the House floor calling for gun reform and leading chants with a bullhorn.

The chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners has called a special meeting for Wednesday to consider reappointing Pearson to his former seat.

If reinstated, Pearson didn't directly answer if he'd break the rules of decorum again. Instead, he responded: "Sometimes rules have to be broken for people who have been pushed to the periphery to be brought to the center of the conversation."

“I believe that our actions were wholly justified in that even though we broke a rule of decorum, we stood up and we spoke for people who needed us to speak for them. … I believe what we did was right and it was for right,” Pearson added.