Tennessee G.O.P. Again Silences Democratic
Lawmaker Justin Jones
Republicans voted to cut Mr. Jones, who was expelled
from the House in April, out of all debate after he was deemed to have breached
new stricter rules of decorum.
Emily
Cochrane
By Emily
Cochrane
Reporting
from Nashville
Aug. 28,
2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/us/tennessee-justin-jones-gop.html
Tennessee’s
House Republicans on Monday again silenced Representative Justin Jones, a Black
Democrat who was expelled earlier this year in a gun control protest, after he
was deemed to have violated new stringent rules of decorum.
Democrats
left the House chamber in protest after Mr. Jones was barred from speaking on
the floor for the remainder of the day, while chants of “fascists” and
“racists” broke out in the gallery overhead.
Republicans
ordered state troopers to clear the galleries. The decision forced the removal
not only of the protesters but also of the parents of students who had survived
a deadly school shooting and were keeping a quiet and emotional watch over the
proceedings.
The uproar
came when Speaker Cameron Sexton and chamber leaders decided that Mr. Jones,
for the second time in the day, had breached the rules of the House by speaking
out of turn. This time, Mr. Jones had suggested, during a debate about
increasing the number of police officers in schools, that the state’s resources
should be focused instead on mental health professionals and teacher pay —
comments Mr. Sexton said were off-topic.
Despite an
outcry from Democrats, the vote to silence Mr. Jones for the remainder of the
day passed 70 to 20.
The
confrontation occurred during a special session dedicated to improving public
safety, an effort sharply curtailed by a resistance to any form of gun control
in the legislature’s deeply conservative Republican supermajority.
In March,
an assailant opened fire at the Covenant School, a Christian school in
Nashville, killing three 9-year-olds and three adults. Many of the school’s
grieving parents have spent the summer quietly lobbying lawmakers for modest
gun reform and a direct response to their school’s suffering.
Since the
session began last week, weeping mothers have been repeatedly escorted out of
hearings. A court has intervened to overturn a House rule outlawing any paper
signs in the legislature or committee hearings. And Republicans in the House
and Senate have exchanged heated barbs over how much work must be done to
fulfill the mandate of the special session.
“We’re
parenting children with fresh trauma due to the legislature’s prior inaction —
juggling jobs, child care — and we call on our leadership to be on the right
side of history,” Becky Hansen, a Covenant parent, said earlier on Monday. “Set
your differences aside and do your jobs.”
When the
legislature convened last week, Republicans forced through new rules that
appeared to reflect simmering anger from the expulsion fight. In addition to
the rules restricting debate and banning signs, they also prevented the public
from sitting on one side of the gallery and cordoned off easy access outside
the chambers.
A court on
Monday ruled that the House rule banning signs — already limited to the size of
a printer paper — violated the Constitution. But the decision to enforce the
new decorum rules for the first time against Mr. Jones on Monday led to an
explosion of anger among his supporters in the State Capitol.
Democrats
argued that it was unclear exactly what Mr. Jones had said that was deemed
off-topic, though Mr. Sexton repeatedly maintained that a violation had
occurred. They also noted that earlier in the day Mr. Jones had told lawmakers
that he planned to force a vote of no confidence in Mr. Sexton’s leadership, a
move he could no longer do once silenced.
“There was
a powder keg on the floor today,” State Representative Antonio Parkinson, a
Democrat, said. He added, “It’s avoidable, completely avoidable.”
Mr. Jones,
after leaving the House chamber, declared that “that’s a charade; a sham
happening in there.”
“I’ll be
back every day as a member of this body,” he added. The House adjourned for the
day shortly after the vote against Mr. Jones.
In a social
media post, Tennessee’s House Republicans said that the angry chants from the
gallery showed “exactly why rules are imperative.”
“The House
of Representatives is a place for serious legislators to do the business of the
people,” the post said. “It requires acting like an adult. You don’t walk out
when you’re in the wrong.”
Beyond the
public sparring over dissent, what the legislature will agree to pass remained
unclear. The Covenant parents have pleaded with lawmakers to pass more
legislation to respond to their school’s tragedy, including a bill that would
limit public access to the autopsy reports of children killed in homicides.
The House
has also pushed for a measure that would toughen the treatment of juvenile
crime, and accused the Senate of abandoning its legislative duty. But the
Senate, which abruptly left for a long weekend on Thursday after passing four
bills, has refused to take up more legislation and was in session for less than
30 minutes on Monday.
“I hope
that the House will realize that we’re serious about having conversations about
their legislation between now and January,” Jack Johnson, the Senate majority
leader, said. “There’s some really good bills that the House has brought
forward. We just don’t think there is time during a special session, which
lasts a few days, to properly vet those bills.”
Emily
Cochrane is a national correspondent covering the American South, based in
Nashville. She was previously a congressional correspondent in Washington,
chronicling the annual debate over government funding and economic legislation.
More about Emily Cochrane
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