(PartiallyPolitics.com) – A majority of members of the Nashville Metropolitan Council are planning on holding a vote to reinstate Justin Jones, who was expelled from the House of Representatives on Thursday following his protests on the chamber floor against gun violence.
Of the Metropolitan Council’s 39 members, 23 have confirmed to NBC News and on social media that they were intending on holding a vote to reinstate Jones to the legislature.
The council is set to have a special meeting on Monday in which they are going to discuss an interim replacement for Jones’ seat. Vice Mayor Jim Shulman has disclosed that the council is going to take action in order to suspend the rules that would require them to vote on a successor for Jones’ seat instead of having a month long nomination period.
Multiple members interviewed by NBC News have expressed outrage over the expulsion and have claimed that hundreds of constituents have been reaching out demanding that Jones’ be reinstated.
Councilmember Burkley Allen pointed out that with the expulsion, “they removed the voice from 140,000 people who voted for them,” and that this process has set up a “terrible precedent” that people with different opinions could be expelled. Allen finished by saying “That’s not the way democracy works.”
Jones along with two other Democratic state lawmakers had led a protest on the House floor last week following the school shooting at a Christian private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. The protestors were calling for stricter gun safety measures. During the protest, Jones and Pearson led chants, but Tennessee House leaders have dubbed the protest and “insurrection.”
Nashville Council member Brett Withers has criticized this characterization, saying that these claims are “unfounded.”
Copyright 2023, PartiallyPolitics.com
