For recently expelled former State Rep. Justin Pearson, Wednesday may be the day he is back into the District 86 stride again.
Shelby County Commission Chairman Mickell Lowery has called a special meeting of the Board of Commissioners for April 12 at 1:30 p.m. The one-item agenda is to “consider the action to reappoint Mr. Justin Pearson to his duly elected position to represent the citizens in District 86 for the State of Tennessee House for Representatives.”
Lowery made the call public with a media release distributed on Easter Sunday.
It fell upon the County Commission to consider the move after the GOP-dominated House last Thursday kicked Pearson out of office for what the Tennessee Republican Caucus labeled “behavior (that) violated multiple permanent rules of order, in addition to state law.”
Pearson – and fellow first-time Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville – were expelled in dramatic, nation-grabbing attention for a chant-laced protest against gun violence on the floor of the House on March 30. Notably, that was three days after a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville left three seniors and three 9-year-olds dead.
And the day hundreds were drawn to the state Capitol to demand more stringent gun control laws.
Along with Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Pearson and Jones faced the rare House move of expulsion. Johnson, who was serving in her second stint as a legislator, survived by one vote. In the history of the state, eight representatives had been expelled – six in the 19th Century and two in 20th century. The last such instance was 2016 when a lawmaker was removed for sexual misconduct.
In his released message, Lowery said the citizens’ protests were “understandable given the fact that the gun laws in the State of Tennessee are becoming nearly non-existent. It is equally understandable that the leadership of the State House of Representatives felt a strong message had to be sent to those who transgressed the rules.”
However, expulsion, said Lowery, was “conducted in a hasty manner without consideration of other corrective action methods.”
The ramifications for the state, he added, “are still yet to be seen.”
Standing his ground, Justin Pearson ready to keep representing
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