this in the country. i should just note, according to cdc data from 2020, the most recent tennessee ninth worst state for gu deaths per capita in the union so it s obviously an acute problem there in tennessee, as you said, senator. sherrilyn, the point about what s next in due process seems important, from a sort o democratic, multi democratic constitutional way i mean, there doesn t seem lik there are great precedents for this kind of action. i mean, it s a long history in this country, lots of states and they all have differen rules, but this seems pretty out there, i ll pass the frontier of what we ve see before expulsion is so extreme remember the days ago, they ha already removed all th committee assignments an deactivated the magnetic badge of these individuals this is prior to trial you also saw statements from
i would say this, chris. tennessee has now given th entire country an object lesso in critical race theory better than any ap history course eve could ve, right? everybody sees it now, everybody knows it now everybody gets exactly what is going on to harry s point about the supreme court, any argumen that this was about the quorum or the house rules in tennessee, the republicans took tha argument off the table for the rest of us when they decided not to expel the white lady, but they did expel the two black men, right so that, i think, opens them u to a legal challenge that is even more serious than how i thought it was going to rule three hours ago. yeah and i would even say and i don t think we have this actually, but correct me if i wrong, but there was one point elie, in which one of th republican said, this isn even really about the rules.
of democracy every legislature has rules, and rules for the quorum, rule for the conduct, rules for committees, and they also have sanctions for violations o those rules. and they are on a slidin scale. one can be reprimanded, one ca be sanctioned, one can b stripped of committe assignments, which all three o these representatives were o the day of their protest but the most extreme i expulsion because expulsion is a sanction not just agains representative, but against th voters who voted them into office justin pierson and justi johnson were just elected. they are in their first session. justin johnson was sworn in on january 10th this is what they did to these young men who just entered the state house. and if you heard - chris, i m sure that, you know your other guests can attest t this, this is part of a broade context of what has been happening in the house the silencing of democrati
it s about you basically makin this sort of spectacle while you know, the bodies are not yet buried i mean, basically that, i mean you actually had explici admission on the floor today from republicans saying, thi is not about the quorum, is no about the rules, we all know why we are here. and i got to think that, t your point, harry, about tryin to litigate this or trying t say it was about a violation o the rules, when you have someone actually sitting on th floor, and - every single time i ve ever tried to trigger this, it been because, you know, sexual assault violations, taking bribes, you know, real sort of stuff, and you know, we ve see it plenty of times, includin in the national legislature, members acting up a bit, making, you know, making trouble, et cetera that s part of their first amendment rights i think this has to go down. the racial element here obviously, is completely i your face. totally unbelievable, as w
this is our birthright, ou inheritance is not just some pieces of paper in constitutions and rules. it s the advocacy and th willingness to protest for what s right, to create and to advocate for laws tha make justice more possible and so, that s what we re goin to do. thank you, sir. god bless you that is justin pearson, he one of the representatives tha was expelled today, along with justin jones and other representative, another as he, said young black man elected b the constituents and voters in their district to represen them in the house and no expelled by that same house. the choice of those individual in those districts rejected by the overwhelmingly white majority of the republican caucus in the tennessee stat house. and sent out of the house fo the crime of having chanted in