A Democrat member of the Tennessee House of Representatives filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court in the District of Tennessee Nashville Division, claiming that House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) violated his constitutional rights when he was expelled from the General Assembly earlier this year.
“Today my attorneys filed a federal lawsuit to hold Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton responsible for his unconstitutional and discriminatory actions. The people of District 52 deserve to have their voices heard without the threat of undemocratic silencing and retaliation,” said State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) on X, formerly known as Twitter, attaching a photo of the lawsuit.
Today my attorneys filed a federal lawsuit to hold Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton responsible for his unconstitutional and discriminatory actions.
The people of District 52 deserve to have their voices heard without the threat of undemocratic silencing and retaliation. pic.twitter.com/3iLOOssTQ1
— Rep. Justin Jones (@brotherjones_) October 3, 2023
“On April 6, 2023, the Tennessee House of Representatives (the “House”) illegally expelled Representative Jones for exercising his right to free speech,” the lawsuit alleges. “Representative Jones had attempted to speak in the House to protest the refusal of Tennessee lawmakers to address devastating gun violence.”
Days before, Jones and fellow State Reps. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) and Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) led a riot in the Capitol gallery, which Tennessee State Troopers foiled after a physical altercation.
The riot stemmed from a gun control rally in response to a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, committed by Audrey Elizabeth Hale. Hale, who was killed by police on the scene, identified as transgender. A manifesto that Hale left behind is still being kept from the public.
“Time and again over the past year Defendants have blocked Representative Jones from expressing views on critical issues that he was elected to express, ensuring that viewpoints dissenting from their own are silenced, neither heard nor spoken,” the lawsuit says. “This censorship violates the constitutions of Tennessee and of the United States and is an anathema to a free, democratic society. By this action, Representative Jones seeks relief for these illegal and unconstitutional actions to silence his and other voices in the Tennessee Legislature, including injunctive relief to stop further violations of his rights to speak and to participate in the legislative process.”
Jones was temporarily reinstated to his seat by the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County after his expulsion. He was later reelected to his position.
Ultimately, the 46-page lawsuit asks the court to declare Jones’ expulsion unconstitutional and that the “Permanent Rules of Order of the Tennessee House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth General Assembly, First Extraordinary Session” are unconstitutional.
It also demands that Sexton “fully and immediately restore (including retroactively, where necessary) Representative Jones to the full rights and benefits of his elected office” and and asks that the court enjoins Sexton from “punishing or in any way preventing Representative Jones from speaking on the floor of the House or otherwise in his capacity as a duly elected member of the House of Representatives.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
