Eric Holder, former President Barack Obama’s attorney general, and a group of attorneys threatened legal action unless two expelled Democrat state legislators were fully restored to the Tennessee House of Representatives in a letter sent to Speaker of the Tennessee House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) on Monday.
And though the House restored one of the expelled state legislators late Monday and is likely to restore the second expelled state legislator on Wednesday, sources tell The Tennessee Star that Holder will likely sue the state of Tennessee, the Tennessee House of Representatives, and Speaker Sexton anyways.
Holder is among six attorneys representing State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and former State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) following their expulsion last week from the Tennessee House after the lawmakers and well-funded left-wing organizations led a made-for-TV protest demanding sweeping gun control laws. They broke several House rules, driving a chaotic scene that shut down proceedings in what Sexton and others have compared to a riot.
Holder and his associates — attorneys from Washington, D.C.-based Covington and Burling LLP, where Holder is senior counsel — represent Jones, and Burch Porter and Johnson LLP of Memphis serve as counsel for Pearson, according to a warning letter the lawyers sent to Sexton on Monday.
Jones was unanimously appointed as the interim successor to the seat from which he was expelled by the Nashville Metropolitan Council Monday afternoon and quickly sworn in on the steps of the Capitol. He triumphantly raised his fist to supporters as he entered the House Chamber.
“This is about people power. It shows that people power is the ultimate power, not the decision of [House Speaker] Cameron Sexton, but the decision of the people,” Jones said Monday.
Pearson could rejoin Jones back in the Tennessee House as soon as Wednesday after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners votes to name an interim successor to Pearson’s vacant seat in the Tennessee House. Sources tell The Tennessee Star that Pearson will likely be named the interim successor.
Though several Republican state legislators wanted to refuse to seat Jones after the Nashville Metro Council vote, on the grounds that under the Tennessee State Constitution an expelled state legislator is not eligible to replace himself or herself. Article II Section 15 of the Tennessee State Constitution states that the legislative body from the county in which the former state legislator resided at the time of his or her election may select an interim successor to the replaced state legislator (emphasis added). That language, they argue, clearly indicates that the interim successor must be a person other than the expelled state legislator.
After receiving the letter Monday threatening legal action from Eric Holder and his colleagues, the Tennessee House leadership chose otherwise.
“The two governing bodies will make the decision as to who they want to appoint to these seats. Those two individuals will be seated as representatives as the constitution requires,” Sexton’s office said Monday. The speaker could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Holder, who has insinuated himself into an array of so-called civil rights cases since leaving the Obama White House, insists Jones and Pearson were “exercising their constitutional rights” during the chaotic protest at the Tennessee House chamber on March 30. The lawmakers joined Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) and employed a bullhorn in the demonstration that followed the March 27 school shooting deaths of three children and three adults at a Nashville private school. The shooter was a 28-year-old woman who reportedly identified as a man, but the left has transformed the violent incident into another gun control rally cry.
The House subsequently voted to expel Jones and Pearson. Johnson survived expulsion by a single vote.
In the letter, the attorneys assert they are not at this time addressing the “violations of the Representatives’ rights, the subversion of due process, the suppression of their freedom of assembly and speech, the oppression of their liberty to dissent, nor their unequal and discriminatory treatment.”
“Rather, we write to emphasize that the House must not now compound its errors by taking any further retributive actions against Representatives Jones and Pearson or their constituents in violation of Article II of the Tennessee Constitution, the very constitutional basis wrongly used to expel the Representatives,” the letter warns.
“The world is watching Tennessee. Any partisan retributive action, such as the discriminatory treatment of elected officials, or threats or actions to withhold funding for government programs, would constitute further unconstitutional action that would require redress,” Holder and the other attorneys declare.
Holder did not return The Tennessee Star’s message Tuesday seeking comment.
In perhaps a signal of a legal battle to come, Jones has called for Sexton to resign.
“He is an enemy of democracy, and he doesn’t deserve to be in that office of a speaker of the house any longer,” Jones told CNN.
The Biden Administration injected itself into the expulsion debate last week, with Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accusing Republican lawmakers of retribution against the liberal lawmakers.
“What did the Republican legislators do? They’re trying to expel these three Democratic legislators who joined in the protest,” Jean-Pierre said.
In other words, the Biden administration, repeatedly accused of politically weaponizing the federal government, is watching. And they’ve got a very good friend in Obama’s former attorney general.
Read the warning letter:
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
$$$$$$ is what Holder wants. Nothing illegal was done against the 3 Stooges. The House leadership is running scared of DOJ and civil suits. Need to tell DOJ it’s a state matter and to FO. Tell Holder if he shows up in the state he will be arrested for insurrection.
Our so called conservative leaders in TN need to read the state Constitution. It is clear that the legislator that was expelled cannot fill the temporary vacancy nor can the former legislator run in the special election. There is no breach of democracy. This was an attempt to bring order to the government and what these THREE legislators did was no different than what happened in DC on J6 and they all should have been arrested. Johnson should have also been expelled. Jones has had a long history of stirring up trouble. He needs to go back to CA where he swim with the scum rats in that government. All 3 are a total disgrace. BUT what is even more concerning is the number of brainwashed woke wanna-bes that support these thugs.
There is no rule of law in the United States anymore. It WAS a great County while it lasted. Tragic.
The TN gop leaders are acting like cowards! They should resign if they can’t stand up to members of the legislature promoting a riot inside the capitol! Governor Lee is a weak leader! Last year he refused the law that enacts harder penalties and longer prison terms! Now he is being weak on gun laws! I knew we were in trouble when he started hanging with former RINO governor Billy Haslam! We need a Ton Desantis leader now and vote out the weak leadership in the legislature and Bill Lee!
Don’t worry Eric. Ole RINO Republicuck Bill has already raised the white flag!
Absolutely despicable GOP of TN who just were played like a fiddle from the communist left. If the republicans can’t grow a spine here with a super majority they never will. I am now 100% certain that a very violent war will be taking place in the USA shockingly soon. There are no longer peaceful solutions since our elected officials completely sell us out non-stop into lawlessness and tyranny. The evil mentally deranged left kills 6 innocent Christians, then gets to take a victory lap and dunks on the GOP of TN.
TN Republicans & Red Flag Bill Lee surrendered, I wont.
I am at a loss for words for how DISAPPOINTED I am with Speaker Sexton (and ALL the House republicans. To cave to the likes of Holder and his Progressive mob is spineless and shameful. Sexton should resign if this is how he stands up to the mob.