Nashville Metro Council votes to reinstate ousted Tennessee lawmaker

Metro Council members voted Monday afternoon to give Justin Jones his job back as a legislator representing Nashville in the Tennessee House.

The vote took place at 4:30 p.m. after Metro Council voted to suspend the rule to wait a month to refill his position.

Otherwise, it would have been a four week wait to see if Jones would be reinstated.

Protestors gathered to rally ahead of the vote to reinstate Jones.

This comes after Jones lost his seat in the state house after Republican lawmakers voted to expel him and House Democrat Justin Pearson over «disorderly behavior.»

Jones, along with two other Democrat representatives, Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) and Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), used a bullhorn two weeks ago to join protestors in favor of gun control reform at the front of the House chamber.

The protests were in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville that took six lives, including three children and three staff members.

House Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) was at risk of expulsion along with the two, but ended up keeping her spot in the House by a slim margin.

Before and after the expulsion, the trio of representatives at risk of expulsion: Jones, Pearson, and Johnson, became known as «The Tennessee Three.» They drew national attention, as many called the resolutions to expel the three as well as the move to expel Jones and Pearson historic.

Vice President Kamala Harris even met with the three at Fisk University as students rallied Friday.

Some background on Justin Jones:
Justin Jones hails from Oakland California. Born in 1995, making him one of the youngest members of the House, at only 27 years old. Jones graduated from Fisk University in Nashville with a B.S. in Political Science, where he was involved in a number of activist organizations. He is currently working on a master’s degree in theological studies at Vanderbilt University.

On Jan 10, 2023, Jones became a member of The Tennessee House, taking Mike Stewart’s seat. Some of the bills he has sponsored include requiring police to only use marked vehicles for non-emergency traffic stops, removing the state’s ability to contract with private prisons, and to allow student IDs for voter identification.

Jones is known for his numerous arrests prior the the protests he was involved with last week, many of them involving protests and activism.

Here is a list of a few of the charges made against him in the arrests:

Refusing to leave a Marsha Blackburn Rally-Oct. 2018
Assaulting Glen Casada, a member of the House, by allegedly throwing a drink at him-2019
Organizing a 62-day sit-in protest for racial justice outside the state capitol following George Floyd’s murder in 2020
Meanwhile, expelled Memphis Rep. Justin Pearson could be reappointed at a Wednesday meeting of the Shelby County Commission.