The chaos of the Tennessee House of Representatives’ legislative session this year continues, as a member of the “Tennessee Three” who was ousted from the chamber by colleagues back in April has filed a federal complaint against Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
The suit alleges civil rights violations including violations of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment, and the 14th Amendment.
The suit also names the chief clerk of the House, the chief sergeant at arms, and Daniel Hicks, the assistant chief clerk and parliamentarian who effectively served as mediator between Mr. Jones and Mr. Sexton during the session. Mr. Hicks answered parliamentary questions asked by Mr. Jones and the other two members who faced expulsion votes on the state House floor.
“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,” Mr. Jones’ attorney wrote in the opening to the lawsuit. “This censorship violates the constitutions of Tennessee and of the United States and is an anathema to a free, democratic society.”
The complaint further states that Mr. Jones seeks relief for the “illegal and unconstitutional” actions to “silence” him and others in the Tennessee Legislature—including “injunctive relief to stop further violations of his rights to speak and to participate in the legislative process.”
Two of the three attorneys listed as representing Mr. Jones are from outside of Tennessee, including one from New York City and another from Washington—both from Covington & Burling LLP, a firm that includes former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder as senior counsel.
Complaint’s Allegations
The complaint alleges that the expulsion of Mr. Jones was “illegal and unconstitutional” in an effort to quash “legitimate and open discussion about” gun control.
“The proceedings that followed were a pretext for silencing Representative Jones: There was never a real issue about whether Speaker Sexton and the House Republicans that he leads would expel Representative Jones and his colleague Representative Pearson; the proceedings were rigged against them from the start,” the complaint says.
Mr. Jones claimed that although he was reelected with nearly 80 percent of the vote in a special election in August, he was “robbed” of committee appointments and seniority, and that the expulsion required him to undergo the “expense and burden” of running for reelection.
The complaint says the alleged efforts to silence Mr. Jones have disenfranchised citizens of his district by denying them representation by “the person they have now elected twice within a nine-month period to speak for them.”
Race
Later in his complaint, Mr. Jones claims the alleged attempts to silence him were discriminatory.“During the final weeks of the House of Representatives’ regular 2023 legislative session, Representative Jones continued to be singled out for retributive action by the House majority because of his race and his political views,” he claims in the suit.
The suit notes that Mr. Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis were expelled, while Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville was spared expulsion for her role in disrupting House proceedings to protest for gun control.
“Both Representatives Jones and Pearson are Black men,” the lawsuit states. “Similar to Representative Jones, Representative Pearson also represents a majority minority district. Ultimately, Representative Johnson, a white woman aligned with Representative Jones and representing a majority White district, was not expelled upon a vote of the House even though Representative Johnson also protested alongside and was otherwise identically situated to Representatives Jones and Pearson with respect to the expulsion charges in all relevant respects.”
He claims later on in the suit that his 14th Amendment due process rights were violated due to “disparate racial treatment.”
Special Session Censure
Mr. Jones also claimed that a censure vote against him during the special legislative session on public safety violated his rights.
Rules adopted by the House included stricter punishments for being ruled out-of-order to avoid expulsion again—which included a vote being automatically called to censure a member for the remainder of a legislative day if they were ruled out-of-order twice.
Mr. Jones was ruled out-of-order twice and his censure was upheld along party lines, a move which caused outcry from Democrats in the chamber and led all members of the Democrat party to leave the chamber before the day’s business was concluded, in protest of Mr. Jones’ censure.
He also claims that House leaders did not allow him to bring up a motion for a vote of “no confidence” against Mr. Sexton during “additional business” at the end of the special session. Mr. Jones previewed his intent on social media prior to bringing it up on the House floor, saying his censure was used as grounds to deny him the right to bring the motion.
He also said in the complaint that following the special session, in emails in September, he and other Democrats elected during August and September elections were not placed on committees because they were elected after the first annual legislative session, which wrapped up in May.
He claimed his due process rights were violated because his insurance benefits lapsed, and he was not allowed to appeal the decision to not place him on committees.
