From the ACLU, this is at Liberty. I'm Kendall Seasmeyer, your host.

On Friday, April 7th, the Tennessee State Legislature voted to expel two out of the three

state representatives, representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, who protested on the chamber

floor in the wake of a mass shooting that killed six people, including three nine-year-old

children. Now, their expulsion was an unprecedented move, completely disregarding typical

norms of democracy, and also the will of voters.

No Tennessee House member has ever been removed from elected office for simply violating decorum

rules. This week, both Representative Pearson and Jones were reinstated to their elected seats in the state house.

But the damage has been done.

Here to unpack all that has happened in Tennessee this week is Jeff Prepty, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Tennessee.

Jeff, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for

having me. Wish it was under better circumstances, but glad to be here. So the nation has been

watching Tennessee this week after the state legislature decided to expel two out of the three

state representatives for protesting on the chamber floor in the wake of a mass shooting that killed six

people, including three nine-year-old children. Everything has happened at break-neck speed,

but can you catch us up on the latest? Yeah, so essentially on Monday evening, the National

Metropolitan Council held a special session in which

they chose to appoint an interim representative to the District 52 state house seat, which was the

seat occupied by Justin Jones. And by unanimous consent, they suspended the rules and unanimously owed it to reappoint Justin Jones to his house district seat.

And then just today, Wednesday, essentially the exact same thing happened in Shelby County, Tennessee.

The Shelby County Commission voted unanimously to suspend their rules and to reappoint Justin Pearson

to his state house seat as well. Okay. So they are back in the state house. That's correct. They're

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