In a rare move, the Nashville city council has voted to reinstate Justin Jones, a lawmaker who was expelled last week for leading a gun control protest. The council voted unanimously to return Jones to the legislature during a special session. Republican colleagues had voted out Jones, along with Memphis lawmaker Justin Pearson, just days after a school shooting in Nashville that left six dead. However, Jones has now been sworn in and has vowed to run in special elections to permanently fill his seat. Several of his constituents have expressed anger and disenfranchisement after the vote to expel him.
The Tennessee House of Representatives has only voted twice since the Civil War to expel a member, indicating the rarity of the move. While some have accused Republicans of racism for expelling Jones and Pearson, citing that the one Democratic representative who survived expulsion is white, others have argued that her lesser role in the protest spared her from expulsion.
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