Justin Pearson made history last week when he and fellow Democrat Justin Jones were expelled from their elected offices for leading a gun control demonstration on the Tennessee House floor.
On Wednesday afternoon, Pearson followed Jones into the history books once more when the Shelby County Commission voted to return him to the seat to which he was elected by constituents in January.
“I will continue to fight with and for our people, whether in or out of office,” Pearson wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday. “We and the young protesters are the future of a new Tennessee.”
Nashville’s metro council voted Monday to reinstate Jones in an interim position until a special election is held. Pearson too will hold an interim spot while awaiting a public vote.
Pearson needed a majority vote from the commission’s 13 members to be reappointed. He got seven. Four Republicans didn’t vote and two members were not in town.
The pair used a bullhorn to call for stricter gun safety measures during a legislative session that followed a March 27 mass shooting at the Covenant School, where three adults and three children were slaughtered.
Conservative House speaker Cameron Sexton accused Jones and Pearson — along with a white lawmaker — of “knowingly and intentionally (bringing) disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.”
A Republican supermajority voted to discharge the Black officials. That decision was met with heavy criticism from Democrats including Vice President Kamala Harris, who traveled to the Volunteer State to meet with “The Tennessee Three” Friday.
Only twice since the Civil War era had lawmakers previously been expelled from the State House — one for bribery, the other over numerous allegations of sexual misconduct. Sen. Chuck Schumer tweeted Wednesday that he and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock want the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the legality of Jones’ and Pearson’s expulsions.
Pearson’s return to power began with a demonstration outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis at noon local time.
“TODAY, as we mourn with the families of those lost in Nashville & Louisville to gun violence, we won’t be silent!” his Twitter feed announced Wednesday. “We’ll march from The National Civil Rights Museum to the County Commission in support of, justice, gun violence prevention and Our Representative Justin J. Pearson!”
Pearson, 29, and Jones, 26, are both first-term representatives. Memphis station WREG reports that if reelected, the pair would have legal immunity from being expelled again for the same offense.
When asked if he’d repeat the behavior that got him in trouble, Jones told CNN after being reinstated, “Sometimes rules have to be broken in order for us to create justice.”
Jones and Gloria Johnson, the third member of The Tennessee Three, were in Memphis to celebrate their colleague’s reinstatement.
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