The Tennessee House of Representatives is at this very minute preparing to vote on expelling three Democratic representatives who stood — without permission — to join students calling for an end to gun murders. It’s happening right now, so we’re posting the livestream of the proceedings and editing on th fly. Livebloog? Hell yes, it’s the Republican supermajority’s attempt to undo democracy in a great hurry, so we are LIVEBLOOG.
And just like that, we’re liveblogging!
2:17 PM: Arguments over a motion to show a 7-minute video of the accused legislators’ crimes; nobody seems to know what the video even is — is it edited, possibly selectively?
2:22: Rep Joe Towns (D) is arguing for a more deliberate, orderly process to provide the three Democrats a fair process. They haven’t even seen the video Republicans want to show.
2:25: Rep. Johnny Garrett (R), who sponsored the expulsion resolution, says the video doesn’t show anything any surprises, since they were all there during the protest, so let’s vote on showing the video.
2:30: The motion to show the video passes immediately.
2:35: I was wrong! This is the video they showed. It depicts Rep. Justin Pearson, one of the three targets for expulsion, who brought his bullhorn. He was joined by Rep. Justin Jones. They led a chant of “Power to the People” and the galleries joined in. This was all during March 30 protests, and I missed that it was the recording. Dumb me!
2:43: Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons points out that the video they all just watched appears to have been taken by a Republican on the floor of the House. in violation of House rules. Clemons also notes that the video includes clips from a press conference the day after the protest.
House ethics rules also require that anyone who fails to report a violation of House rules has also violated House rules. So maybe half the House should be expelled.
2:47: Clemmons wants to know when exactly the video was taken. A Republican says it wasn’t a violation of the rules since it was recorded while the House was in recess. If that’s the case, Clemmons asks, then weren’t the three Democrats also speaking during a recess, and not interrupting House business? His motion to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee is quickly rejected by the Republican majority.
2:52: Rep. Bo Mitchell (D) notes that he’s just been texted pictures showing who was videotaping the three; he “accidentally” names the Republican. After some back and forth, the House moves immediately to vote on the resolution to expel the three Democrats.
2:54: The resolution to expel Justin Jones is being read aloud. He will now have a chance to speak on his behalf.
2:56: Jones says the world is watching, and that the majority has already made its verdict known. Calls the proceedings a lynching, “not of me, but of democracy” in Tennessee.
3:00: Jones notes that the Tennessee Constitution allows members to “protest” and that his intent was to protest the Legislature’s failure to do anything to stop mass shootings. He notes that House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) had called the protest an “insurrection,” and that others on TV had falsely accused the three Democrats of violence, when they were calling for an end to violence.
3:05: “A week after a mass shooting in our community, the quickest action my colleagues across the aisle were able to take is to expel us” (some paraphrase there)
3:08: Jones lists previous causes for expulsions of House members: A post-Civil War legislator who refused to allow freed slaves to vote, A member who took a bribe to kill a bill, and a member who committed multiple acts of sexual harassment. He asks if the three Dem’s actions are really equivalent
3:10: Jones also pointed out that the House didn’t expel a member (former state Rep. David Byrd) who admitted (on a secretly recorded call) to sexually assaulting a minor in the 1980s. Two other women also accused him. Unless I misheard him, he also noted that one member of the House faced no discipline for having “peed in another member’s chair.” Did you hear that?
3:13: “Mr. Speaker, how can you bring dishonor to a body that has no honor?” Damn.
3:14: Jones’s mic is suddenly cut in mid-sentence.
3:15: Rep. Garrett (R), being the prosecutor, asks Johnson a bunch of questions about their actions on the day that they did insurrection by walking to the well of the House without being recognized.
3:20: Jones says that after he was denied recognition several times, yes, he did go to the well and shout his support for the kids yelling for their lives. Garrett demands that Jones answer specifically if he understands that he went to the well without being recognized, and that Speaker Sexton gaveled him out of order.
Jones answers that he was in the well because he was elected by his constituents, and that Sexton is not his constituent.
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