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A Black state representative expelled from the GOP-led Tennessee Legislature in April after protesting gun violence on the state House floor has a high-powered legal mind representing him: former Attorney General Eric Holder.
And Holder is putting pressure on Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, to fully reinstate Justin Jones after he officially won back his seat during a special election on Thursday. Nashville's City Council voted in mid-April to appoint Jones as an interim representative until last week's special election, which was triggered by his expulsion.
Holder sent a letter to Sexton on Monday demanding that Jones be "fully reinstated to all rights, duties, and privileges of his office, including all committee assignments.”
The letter quotes a statement Sexton gave Jones on the House floor after Jones returned to the Legislature in mid-April. At the time, Sexton claimed Jones and state Rep. Justin Pearson, who was also expelled and reappointed, would not be allowed to regain committee assignments because they were "appointed" and not "duly elected" at the time. (Pearson also won his special election last week.)
"That’s why I put Representative Johnson back on committees — because she’s not appointed; she’s still duly elected," Sexton said.
State Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, narrowly avoided expulsion despite protesting alongside Jones and Pearson on the Tennessee House floor. She has talked openly about the apparent racial double standard at play regarding her colleagues' expulsions.
The letter signed by Holder says Jones' re-election means it's time for Sexton to give Jones his powers back, as his constituents intended.
It reads:
As you know, in a special election held last Thursday, August 3, 2023, the people of Tennessee’s 52nd District spoke with unmistakable clarity, reelecting Representative Jones by an overwhelming majority of just under eighty percent and returning him to the House for the remainder of the legislative term. Representative Jones has thus been duly reelected, and his committee assignments must be restored immediately along with all other rights and benefits enjoyed by every duly elected House member.
Holder says a failure to fully reinstate Jones — especially with the Tennessee House prepping to consider potential gun safety legislation — will “exacerbate the injuries this body has already inflicted on Representative Jones and his constituents by further depriving him of the rights and responsibilities to which you have already acknowledged he is entitled by his election.”
The letter gives Sexton until Friday to confirm. It’s essentially a warning to Sexton: Fully reinstate Jones or litigation hellfire will rain down upon you.