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"He needed to be expelled," said one critic.
Tennessee Rep. Scotty Campbell, the vice chair of the state House Republican Caucus and a leader behind the effort last month to expel three Democrats who joined a gun control protest, resigned on Thursday weeks after a state House investigation found that he had sexually harassed at least one intern.
Campbell's resignation was met with frustration from supporters of the "Tennessee Three"—state Reps. Justin Jones (D-52), Justin Pearson (D-86), and Gloria Johnson (D-90)—who said the District 3 representative should have been expelled last month for his conduct instead of being permitted to stay in the House and vote to remove the three gun control supporters from the Legislature.
Until deciding to resign after being confronted by a local media outlet on Thursday, "Rep. Scotty Campbell saw no consequences as a result of his actions," saidHuffPost editor Philip Lewis.
\u201cAgain: TN House GOP Vice Chair Scotty Campbell (R-Mountain City) was found guilty of sexually harassing 19yo interns, saying he imagines them performing sex acts on each other \u2014 No consequences. \n\nBut the TN 3 speaking up for change = expulsion? \ud83e\udd14\nhttps://t.co/l6XIdAhnNl\u201d— The Tennessee Holler (@The Tennessee Holler) 1682012203
The state House Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Subcommittee alerted Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-25) on March 29 that it had determined Campbell violated House policy by harassing a legislative intern, telling the Republican leader that "discrimination in any form will not be tolerated."
\u201cAGAIN: The week before the TN 3 we\u2019re expelled, Speaker Sexton learned the @tnhousegop vice chair sexually harassed 1-2 teenage interns and did nothing. https://t.co/l6XIdAhnNl \n\nIs @TheJusticeDept paying attention yet?\u201d— The Tennessee Holler (@The Tennessee Holler) 1682014979
Instead of removing Campbell from his committee assignments, censuring him, or taking other actions to hold him accountable, Sexton did not respond to the panel's findings and moved ahead days later with an effort to expel the three Democrats, after which only Jones and Pearson were ousted. The two lawmakers were quickly reappointed by municipal councils in their districts.
"If you were in court and behaved like those three did, you would have been found in contempt of court," Campbell argued during a debate over the expulsion motion.
NewsChannel 5 in Nashville revealed the committee's findings on Thursday and confronted Campbell about them.
According to the investigation, Campbell made comments to a legislative intern about her and another 19-year-old intern about "imagining they were performing sexual acts on one another." The Legislature has also spent "potentially thousands of dollars" in taxpayer money to move one of the interns out of her apartment building, where Campbell also lived, and to place her "in a downtown hotel for the remainder of her internship."
Campbell told NewsChannel 5 that had only had "consensual, adult conversations."
Hours after the outlet reported on the harassment, however, Campbell announced his resignation.
"He needed to be expelled," said Bryan Langan, a gun control advocate and former Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate.
"Action can't wait," said the Tennessee Democrat. "This comprehensive legislation will enact commonsense gun policies already working in other states to reduce gun deaths."
Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones on Thursday filed legislation that would impose stricter regulations on firearm and ammunition ownership, upholding his vow to continue fighting for gun control following the Republican vote to expel him from his seat.
Jones, who was unanimously reinstated by the Nashville Metropolitan Council on Monday, said he introduced the "Protect Kids Not Guns Act" alongside Democratic state Sen. Charlane Oliver "because action can't wait."
"This comprehensive legislation will enact commonsense gun policies already working in other states to reduce gun deaths and make it harder for everyday people to possess military-grade assault weapons," Jones wrote on Twitter.
The legislation comes after Jones and fellow Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson—who was also expelled and subsequently reinstated—showed solidarity with Tennesseans who gathered inside the state House chamber late last month to demand action against gun violence following a deadly mass shooting in Nashville.
The Newtown Action Alliance, a group formed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, applauded Jones and Oliver for "honoring the Covenant School victims with action."
\u201cFiled the \u201cProtect Kids Not Guns Act\u201d today because action can\u2019t wait. This comprehensive legislation will enact common sense gun policies already working in other states to reduce gun deaths and make it harder for everyday people to possess military-grade assault weapons.\u201d— Rep. Justin Jones (@Rep. Justin Jones) 1681434532
Jones and Oliver's bill would, among other changes, ban the possession of large-capacity magazine, defined as "an ammunition-feeding device with capacity to accept more than 10 rounds." The Nashville shooter, who killed three young children and three adults at a Nashville Christian school last month, fired more than 150 rounds in a matter of minutes.
The new legislation would also add restrictions on who can sell guns and require that Tennesseans under an extreme risk protection order—meaning they're deemed a threat to themselves or others—immediately surrender all firearms and ammunition in their possession as well as any handgun carry permit to Tennessee authorities.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, indicated earlier this week that he broadly supports the latter change, asking state legislators to "bring forward an order of protection law."
"A new, strong order of protection law will provide the broader population cover, safety, from those who are a danger to themselves or the population," Lee said.
It's far from clear, however, that the Republican-dominated Legislature will act on the governor's request, let alone approve gun control measures proposed by Jones, Oliver, and other Democratic lawmakers.
As The Tennessean noted on Tuesday: "Republican lawmakers in recent years have broadened access to firearms. Some Republicans this session attempted to expand a permit-less carry measure to long guns prior to the Covenant shooting, a move sharply criticized by Democrats."
"Democrats announced a legislative slate on April 5 in response to the Covenant shooting," the newspaper reported. "The Democratic legislation includes a proposed ban on bump stock conversion kits and high-capacity magazines... Senate Bill 1564 would allow family members and law enforcement to petition a civil court for an extreme risk protection order, which would allow law enforcement to temporarily remove weapons from a person deemed a risk to themselves or others."
Senate Democrats are asking U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to "use all available legal authorities" to determine whether the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights laws were violated and "take all steps necessary to uphold the democratic integrity of our nation's legislative bodies."
U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday sent a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the recent expulsion of two Tennessee Democratic lawmakers to determine whether the widely condemned move was unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful.
Tennessee House Republicans have been roundly denounced since voting last Thursday to expel state Reps. Justin Jones (D-52) and Justin Pearson (D-86), with critics arguing that the removal of the Black progressive lawmakers—the state's first partisan expulsion since 1866—exemplifies the GOP's growing antagonism toward democracy.
A week before they were ousted and their combined 150,000 constituents were deprived of elected representation, Jones and Pearson had joined protesters in disrupting a floor session to demand gun control in the wake of last month's deadly school shooting in Nashville. State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-13), who is white, also participated in the demonstration but was spared the same fate by one vote.
Wednesday's letter, the first formal effort by U.S. senators to respond to the expulsions, asks U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to "use all available legal authorities" to determine whether the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights laws were violated and "take all steps necessary to uphold the democratic integrity of our nation's legislative bodies."
The letter, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), was co-signed by Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), and Brian Schatz (Hawaii).
As The Washington Postreported:
The senators argue that the removals may have violated Jones' and Pearson's First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly, the rights of citizens of Memphis and Nashville to be represented by the legislators of their choice, and rights the pair have under the 14th Amendment or civil rights statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race.
[...]
The letter cites the Supreme Court's unanimous 1966 ruling in Bond v. Floyd as a potential precedent to draw from in arguing that the expulsions in Tennessee were unlawful. In that case, the high court found that the Georgia House of Representatives' refusal to seat a Black lawmaker, Julian Bond, over his stance on the Vietnam War was unconstitutional.
In their letter, Senate Democrats praised Jones and Pearson for "courageously participating in nonviolent demonstrations" that "challenged procedural rules."
"We do not believe that breaking decorum is alone sufficient cause for employing the most draconian of consequences to duly elected lawmakers," the senators wrote. "This is undemocratic, un-American, and unacceptable, and the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate whether it was also unlawful or unconstitutional."
Laurence Tribe, a professor emeritus of law at Harvard University, told the Post that "there are some who would try to distinguish Georgia's exclusion of Bond for his speeches about the war outside the legislative chamber from Tennessee's repressive and vindictive expulsion of two duly elected members for their robust expressions of views in the well of the chamber in alleged violation of its rules of decorum."
"But to me, that is a distinction without a difference," added Tribe. The legal scholar is far from alone in opposing Tennesee Republicans' retaliatory act.
"We cannot allow states to cite minor procedural violations as pretextual excuses to remove democratically elected representatives."
A USA Today/Ipsos survey conducted Friday through Sunday found that three-fourths of U.S. adults—including 62% of Republicans—believe Americans, including lawmakers, have the right to peacefully protest in state houses.
Reporting on the poll Tuesday, USA Today noted that "a 51% majority call the expulsions an anti-democratic abuse of power, compared with 42% who view them as an appropriate way to discipline lawmakers."
Moreover, "in the wake of school shootings, two-thirds say state legislatures should enact stricter controls on gun purchases," the newspaper pointed out.
Stronger gun laws, after all, are precisely what Jones, Pearson, and Johnson, along with hundreds of concerned citizens, were calling for during the March 30 protest in the Tennessee State Capitol.
Alluding to the March 27 shooting at Nashville Covenant School that left three adults and three children dead, the Senate Democrats wrote Wednesday that this "tragedy shattered hearts across our country and galvanized Americans—particularly young Americans in Tennessee—to peacefully demand their legislators act."
"These deeply moving expressions of democratic participation follow America's long tradition of peaceful, nonviolent protest, perfected during the struggles and triumphs of the civil rights movement," the letter says.
"Silencing legislators on the basis of their views or their participation in protected speech or protest is antithetical to American democracy and values," the letter continues. "We cannot allow states to cite minor procedural violations as pretextual excuses to remove democratically elected representatives, especially when these expulsions may have been at least partially on the basis of race. Allowing such behavior sets a dangerous—and undemocratic—precedent."
"We are deeply concerned that without immediate action by the U.S. Department of Justice, anti-democratic actors will only be emboldened, and we will see more troubling and more frequent incidents meant to unravel our democratic fabric," the senators concluded. "Thank you for your work to protect our democracy."
Jones and Pearson were reappointed to the Tennessee Legislature by the Nashville Metropolitan Council and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.
There are lingering fears, however, that the Tennessee GOP, which has defended and fundraised off the expulsions, could engage in further retaliation against Jones and Pearson. Attorneys for both men have warned the state's Republican lawmakers against doing so.