‘Tennessee Three’ member silenced for day by GOP

Tennessee’s House Republicans voted Monday to silence a member of the “Tennessee Three,” the trio of the state’s House Democrats whom Republicans attempted to oust over a gun control protest earlier this year, after determining the Black member had breached newly adopted rules intended to maintain decorum.

The state House voted 70-20 to restrict Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) from speaking on and debating bills the remainder of the day, after House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) twice declared Jones to be out of order, according to The Tennessean. The move comes a week into a special session in reaction to a March shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville that left six people dead.

Directly prior to the vote, Jones had been speaking against proposed legislation designed to allow more law enforcement officers in schools, suggesting other resources the state should instead be offering schools to protect against gun violence.

This prompted Sexton to rule Jones out of order, calling for a vote to silence Jones for the rest of the day, after the Speaker had warned the Democratic member to stay on topic during the session. Newly enacted rules passed by the majority Republican chamber allow members to be silenced for straying off topic from the bill being debated.

The move was met with chants of “fascists” and “racists” from the gallery, which included gun control activists. Sexton then ordered state troopers to clear the public from the gallery.

House Democrats also walked off the floor in protect of the move to silence Jones, per the Tennessean.

Jones was reinstated in the state House in April after the GOP-controlled body voted to expel him and his colleague Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), who is also Black, for participating in a demonstration calling for gun reform on the House floor following the Nashville shooting earlier this year.

Earlier Monday, Jones announced that he planned to call for a vote of no confidence in Sexton that day.

“This morning, my office delivered this letter to Speaker Cameron Sexton and my legislative colleagues, sharing the intent to call for a vote of no confidence in the Speaker due to his continued abuse of power and dishonor to the public office he holds,” Jones wrote in a post Monday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, before the session.