Both expelled members of âTennessee Threeâ win back their state House seats
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Updated 9:27 PM EDT, August 3, 2023
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) â Tennessee Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, who became Democratic heroes as members of the âTennessee Three,â reclaimed their legislative seats Thursday after they were expelled for involvement in a gun control protest on the House floor.
The young Black lawmakers were reinstated by local officials after being booted from the GOP-dominated Statehouse, but only on an interim basis. They advanced Thursday through a special election to fully reclaim their positions. Both faced opponents in districts that heavily favor Democrats.
Jones, who lives in Nashville, was up against Republican candidate Laura Nelson. Meanwhile, Pearson, from Memphis, faced independent candidate Jeff Johnston.
âLetâs send a clear message to everyone who thought they could silence the voice of District 86,â Pearson tweeted earlier this month. âYou canât expel a movement!â
Thursdayâs election came as lawmakers are preparing to return to Nashville later this month for a special session to address possibly changing the stateâs gun control laws. While Jones and Pearsonâs reelection to their old posts wonât make a significant dent to the Republican supermajority inside the Legislature, they are expected to push back heavily against some of their GOP colleaguesâ policies.
Jones and Pearson were elected to the Statehouse last year. Both lawmakers flew relatively under the radar, even as they criticized their Republican colleaguesâ policies. It wasnât until this spring that their political careers received a boost when they joined fellow Democrat Rep. Gloria Johnson in a protest for more gun control on the House floor.
The demonstration took place just days after a fatal shooting in Nashville at a private Christian school where a shooter killed three children and three adults. As thousands of protesters flooded the Capitol building to demand that the Republican supermajority enact some sort of restrictions on firearms, the three lawmakers approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn, and joined the protestersâ chants and cries for action.
Republican lawmakers quickly declared that their actions violated House rules and moved to expel their three colleagues â an extraordinary move thatâs been taken only a handful of times since the Civil War.
The move briefly left about 140,000 voters in primarily Black districts in Nashville and Memphis with no representation in the Tennessee House.
Ultimately, Johnson, who is white, narrowly avoided expulsion while Pearson and Jones were booted by the predominantly white GOP caucus.
House Republican leaders have repeatedly denied that race was a factor in the expulsion hearings. Democrats have disagreed, with Johnson countering that the only reason that she wasnât expelled was due to her being white.
The expulsions drew national support for the newly dubbed âTennessee Three,â especially for Pearson and Jonesâ campaign fundraising. The two raised more than $2 million combined through about 70,400 campaign donations from across the country. The amount is well beyond the norm for Tennesseeâs Republican legislative leaders and virtually unheard of for two freshman Democrats in a superminority.
Meanwhile, more than 15 Republican lawmakers had funneled cash to fund campaign efforts of Jonesâ Republican opponent, Nelson. Nelson has raised more than $34,000 for the race. Pearsonâs opponent, Johnston, raised less than $400 for the contest.
A judge has now clarified that this is basically a legal distinction without a real-world difference. He says that what the jury found Trump did was in fact rape, as commonly understood....
Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll
Aaron Blake4 - 5 minutes
After Donald Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, his legal team and his defenders lodged a frequent talking point.
Despite Carrollâs claims that Trump had raped her, they noted, the jury stopped short of saying he committed that particular offense. Instead, jurors opted for a second option: sexual abuse.
âThis was a rape claim, this was a rape case all along, and the jury rejected that â made other findings,â his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said outside the courthouse.
A judge has now clarified that this is basically a legal distinction without a real-world difference. He says that what the jury found Trump did was in fact rape, as commonly understood.
The filing from Judge Lewis A. Kaplan came as Trumpâs attorneys have sought a new trial and have argued that the juryâs $5 million verdict against Trump in the civil suit was excessive. The reason, they argue, is that sexual abuse could be as limited as the âgropingâ of a victimâs breasts.
âThe finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ârapedâ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ârapedâ her as many people commonly understand the word ârape,â â Kaplan wrote.
He added: âIndeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.â
Kaplan said New Yorkâs legal definition of ârapeâ is âfar narrowerâ than the word is understood in âcommon modern parlance.â
The former requires forcible, unconsented-to penetration with oneâs penis. But he said that the conduct the jury effectively found Trump liable for â forced digital penetration â meets a more common definition of rape. He cited definitions offered by the American Psychological Association and the Justice Department, which in 2012 expanded its definition of rape to include penetration âwith any body part or object.â
Kaplan also flatly rejected the Trump teamâs suggestion that the conduct Trump was found liable for might have been as limited as groping of the breasts.
The reason? Trump was not accused of that, so the only alleged offense that would have qualified as âsexual abuseâ was forced digital penetration. Beyond that, Trump was accused of putting his mouth on Carrollâs mouth and pulling down her tights, which Kaplan noted were not treated as alleged sexual abuse at trial.
âThe juryâs finding of sexual abuse therefore necessarily implies that it found that Mr. Trump forcibly penetrated her vagina,â Kaplan wrote, calling it the âonly remaining conclusion.â
Kaplan also noted that the verdict form did not ask the jury to decide exactly what conduct Trump had committed, and that neither prosecutors nor Trumpâs lawyers had requested it to do so.
âMr. Trumpâs attempt to minimize the sexual abuse finding as perhaps resting on nothing more than groping of Ms. Carrollâs breasts through her clothing is frivolous,â Kaplan wrote.
He added that the jury clearly found that Trump had â ârapedâ her in the sense of that term broader than the New York Penal Law definition.â
The motion was a part of Trumpâs efforts to appeal the verdict against him. Thatâs an effort that will apparently continue as he faces a separate defamation lawsuit from Carroll, dealing with claims Trump made about her allegations while he was still president.
But for now, Trumpâs effort to push back has led to a rather remarkable clarification that severely undercuts his main talking point.
I have tried Mint, Personal Capital, GNUCash, and probably a few others, and I seem to have settled on Tiller. Basically, I like the convenience of automatically pulling in transactions and balances, but I like retaining control of the budgeting process....
I have had a subscription to YNAB (you need a budget) for years now. Itâs simple and straight to the point for exactly what we need. It pulls everything from my bank accounts smoothly. My partner understands it and is able to easily use it, which is extremely important.
I tried Mint and have suggested it in the past as a free alternative to folks who need help budgeting, but it tends to be too complicated for most that Iâve suggested it to. And thatâs even after setting it up for them and showing them basic usage.
I used the GNUCash for a while. As a manual option, it was good for when I was importing everything to Quicken.
I no longer use quicken or manually import anything.
Thereâs not a lot of products that Iâll recommend, but I can say that YNAB is worth every cent.
Expelled Nashville Democrat Justin Jones of the âTennessee Threeâ wins back state House seat ( beehaw.org )
Prepare to flick off your incandescent bulbs for good under new US rules that kicked in this week ( apnews.com )
Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll ( www.washingtonpost.com )
A judge has now clarified that this is basically a legal distinction without a real-world difference. He says that what the jury found Trump did was in fact rape, as commonly understood....
What's your favorite budget tracking app?
I have tried Mint, Personal Capital, GNUCash, and probably a few others, and I seem to have settled on Tiller. Basically, I like the convenience of automatically pulling in transactions and balances, but I like retaining control of the budgeting process....