Ousted lawmaker may return

By

National News

April 12, 2023 - 3:48 PM

Former Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, and former Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, raises their hands outside the House chamber after Jones and Pearson were expelled from the legislature Thursday, April 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Commissioners in Memphis are scheduled to decide whether to return a Black Democrat to the Republican-led Tennessee House. 

Justin Pearson and a colleague were kicked out of the Legislature last Thursday following their support of gun control protesters. The Shelby County Board of Commissioners set a vote Wednesday. 

The vote will determine whether Pearson is sent back to the Legislature in Nashville. Republicans banished Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones over their role in a gun control protest on the House floor after the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. Jones also is Black. He was reinstated to his House seat Monday.

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