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“It’s echoing across the country. Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the Democrats under threat of expulsion, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “This is stripping our democracy away. There’s no question, because everyone thinks, ‘Am I next?'”
Tennessee’s ACLU also warned that the effort “undermines democracy.”
Kathy Sinback, executive director of the ACLU in Tennessee, said in a statement, “Expulsion is a critical step in our state and country because it deprives voters of the right to represent their elected people.” is an extreme measure rarely used in
State legislatures often go on for decades without taking such action against lawmakers.
Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Nashville Capitol last week to urge lawmakers to pass gun safety measures after a shooting at a local school killed three adults and three children. It started when I asked for it.
As protests leaked through the building, Rep. Gloria Johnson, Rep. Justin Jones, and Rep. Justin Pearson led a chant in the House calling on their colleagues to pass new gun control laws. The deputies were aided by loudspeakers.
Their stunt infuriated Republicans, who soon introduced a resolution calling for their removal from office, causing further chaos on the House floor.
Now, Republican leaders, who have likened these actions to “rioting,” are scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to allow members to continue serving in the House or remove them from office. Democrats have already been stripped of commission duties.
A resolution filed against the three declared that they had participated in “disorderly conduct” and “willfully and deliberately brought confusion and dishonor to the House of Commons.”
Critics of moves to evict party members say the Republican Party has in the past accused its own party of misbehaving, including a former congressman who was accused of sexually assaulting a teenager when he was a basketball coach. He claimed that he had failed to dismiss party members.
“A week after a mass shooting claimed the lives of six people in our community, it is morally insane for House Republicans to just banish us for calling for gun control with voters. not.” Jones tweeted Tuesday afternoon“What’s happening in Tennessee is a clear danger to democracy across this nation.”
A group of Democrats faces stiff odds surviving the vote: Both houses of the Tennessee legislature are controlled by overwhelming Republican majorities.
Johnson, a former teacher who survived a school shooting that left one student dead, said he plans to “defend himself” by bringing a lawyer to Thursday’s vote.
“I am happy to attend and I want my case to be heard, because I will always want to raise the voice of the people in my district and enact gun laws,” Johnson said. It’s from,’ he said.
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