The Republican-run Tennessee House on Wednesday installed new rules limiting how long lawmakers can debate bills and restricting members deemed “out of order” from speaking — an effort to discourage further turmoil after the highly publicized expulsions of two Democrats last year.
The wide-ranging set of rule changes was opposed by many Democrats, including the “Tennessee Three”: Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Rep. Justin Jones from Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, who waged a protest on the House floor last April calling for gun control just days after a Christian elementary school shooting in Nashville killed six people.
