Several activists, both for and against gun reform, packed into a Nashville courtroom Monday morning to hear arguments over whether spectators can hold signs in the House chamber during the special legislative session. The final ruling: They can.
ACLU lawyer Stella Yarbrough pointed to the fact that signs were still allowed in the Senate.
“How could a sign be disruptive to one chamber but not the other?” she asked. “Unless, of course, one chamber seeks to silence particular speakers or particular points of view, which may be the case here.”
Cody Brandon from the state attorney general’s office argued that the House chambers are specifically for legislative business.
“Outside of those spaces, plaintiffs have ample opportunity to express their ideas,” Brandon said. “There are ample alternative channels of communication … outside the committee hearing rooms and the hallways for calling, emailing representatives, protesting outside the Capitol.”
Nashville Rep. Justin Jones was also in attendance, along with representatives of the Tennessee Firearms Association and plaintiff Allison Polidor.
Marianna Bacallao WPLN NewsNashville Rep. Justin Jones attends a hearing that will determine if spectators can hold signs in the legislature.
Polidor was escorted out of a House subcommittee for holding a sign that read “1 kid > all the guns.”
“I am the face of every mother in America that is just dead tired of seeing the news and watching our children being massacred every day and our lawmakers doing nothing to protect them,” Polidor says.
The judge in the case had already blocked the rule last week, but was urged to reconsider by Tennessee’s attorney general.
The final ruling on a temporary measure: spectators WILL be able to hold signs for the remainder of #TNSpecialSession. A Nashville judge is sticking with her original order, after Tennessee's Attorney General asked her to reconsider. pic.twitter.com/mpbRhMmsXT
— Marianna Bacallao (@MariannaBac) August 28, 2023
Update: This story has been updated to include the judge’s ruling. She is staying with her original order, which allows spectators to hold signs for the remainder of Tennessee’s special session.
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