Meth addicts on MSNBC framing this as a Streisand effect that’s gonna turn these expelled Tennessee lawmakers into “superstars.” That’s into the territory of me being able to safely make a clinical diagnosis of psychosis from my couch.
we’ll probably never know
It isn’t the birthplace of the KKK for nothin. Really impressive showing by Tennessee Republicans today. Never miss an opportunity to go above and beyond to show how racist you are, TNGOP.
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wtf Rs getting so high on own supply they voting off the black folks but not white hopefully going to go down as an unforced error after some blowback
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this state is so gerrymandered it wouldn’t hurt them if they were caught voting for nancy pelosi
there’s really no chance any of these turds suffers even the slightest consequence, but I’m thinking about volunteering for Mark White’s campaign and doing a little off-script phone banking.
Well they expelled the other black kid
wtf I figured they would let off the rest once someone told them how bad the optics are. This is truly insane stuff
So what is the pretext for the expulsion? Cause it seems blatantly anti-democratic. Shouldn’t the voters in a particular district determine who their representative is, not the rest of the assembly?
And isn’t this over what should be protected political speech?
“Decorum”
Really? Because disenfranchising all the people in a legislative district seems way disproportionate to the supposed offense.
I know, Sweet Summer Child and stuff, but shouldn’t there be a US constitutional issue here?
TN House, these are not US Reps
I’m rusty on government but is there even a US constitutional requirement that states even have elected state legislators?
Yes, I know that.
But still, doesn’t the US constitution have some guard rails around how the state governments are structured? I’m not a lawyer, so I’m out of my depth here, but it seems like allowing a system of state government where whole districts of people could get their duly elected representatives removed at the whim of the opposing party would violate some democratic principle or something…
ETA: Just read through the NYT story about this. No mention of any possible remedy through the courts, state or federal. I know the system is rigged from top to bottom, but still, shouldn’t there be some avenue to pursue here?
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I think the constitution guarantees a republican form of government by states.
Technically they broke a state house rule, so it’s legally fair game. The issue is they have historically used this power exceptionally rarely, even letting sexual assault and such go, and now they’re basically like hey you broke a minor rule see ya.
And it’s unilateral but they have a super majority. Gerrymandered probably, but I’m sure it’d be around 60/40 R in Tennessee anyway. I also would guess these expulsions poll favorably in Tennessee.
It’s basically: Tennessee Loves Guns and Racism, film at 11.
Seems typical constitution to give half a sentence that seems wide open to interpretation to what seems a pretty important topic.
They’re the same picture
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