NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The stage is set for Thursday morning, when the Tennessee House will hold a special hearing to expel three Tennessee Democrats.
It happened last Thursday, in an incident that Republicans are calling an "insurrection" and Democrats call "good trouble."
Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, lead the gallery in chants using a megaphone, while disrupting debate on the House floor Thursday morning.
"They’re trying to make an example, this is a political lynching," Jones said.
"We decided, between bills, we are going to walk up, we are going to acknowledge the people outside surrounding this building, in the rotunda, and we are going to speak to their issue and tell them we are with them because they needed to hear that," Rep. Johnson said.
Republican leaders only need a two-thirds majority to remove them from office, which they already have if their caucus votes together. It would only be the third expulsion from the Tennessee House since the Civil War.
"Right here, Section 12 says each house may determine the rules of this proceeding, punish its members for disorderly behavior," said longtime Nashville attorney David Raybin.
NewsChannel 5 asked Raybin if expulsion prevented the three lawmakers from running for their seat again.
"Unless they were convicted of felonies, they’d be eligible to run again," said Raybin. "The legislators are expelled, they could run for election again in a special election, and then they could take their seats and would not be subject to expulsion for this particular behavior."
Representative Johnson has also floated the idea of suing legislative leaders over a potential expulsion. Raybin says that prospect is a little trickier.
"A court probably would not intervene, because they would violate the separation of powers, just like the legislature cannot interfere directly with the courts," he said.
However, if it was a constituent of one of the three lawmakers that sued, that claimed this prevented them from being represented in the Capitol, Raybin thinks that might have a better chance.
"That’s an open question, that hasn’t really been decided yet," said Raybin.
Whatever you want to call the moment last Thursday, Raybin says we're currently witnessing history on Capitol Hill.
"It’s extraordinarily rare," he said.
Some Republicans are now worried that by expelling these three members, it may only make them even more popular.
The expulsion vote will officially take place Thursday morning.
