One Of The Two Tennessee Lawmakers Who Were Expelled For Protesting Gun Violence Has Been Reinstated

One of the two Tennessee lawmakers who were expelled from the Legislature for protesting for gun control in the wake of a deadly Nashville school shooting was reinstated to his seat Monday.

The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County voted unanimously to send Justin Jones of Nashville back to the Statehouse on an interim basis. Justin Pearson, the other expelled lawmaker, from Memphis, could also be reappointed later this week.

“On Thursday, April the 6th, we witnessed a miscarriage of justice and an egregious assault on our democracy which resulted in over 70,000 Davidson County voters being silenced,” Council Member Delishia Porterfield said after formally nominating Jones to his seat. “Their will should have never been undermined.”

The council’s vote sends a strong message to the state legislature and the rest of the country “that we will not tolerate threats to our democracy,” Porterfield added.

Minutes after the vote, Jones led hundreds of demonstrators in a march to the state capitol.