Press Releases

Today, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (NV-04) and members of the Congressional Black Caucus issued the following statement regarding the reappointment of State Representative Justin Pearson and the recent efforts across the country to call out the overreach of the Tennessee State Legislature.  

“In recent days, the Congressional Black Caucus has engaged with the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, national civil rights leaders, as well as gun violence prevention groups to support Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson and to advocate for their immediate reinstatement. We applaud the diverse coalition of elected officials, advocacy groups, peaceful protesters, residents of Nashville, as well as Nashville and Shelby County officials for working to reappoint Rep. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones back to his positions in the Legislature.” 

“The unanimous reinstatement of both Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson is a clear rebuke to the overreach and unprecedented attempts by the Tennessee Legislature to quash peaceful protest and to disenfranchise children, parents, and teachers who spoke up after six people, including three 9-year-olds, were murdered at the Covenant School. While this is the outcome that we pushed for we have to be clear about the threat that this presents to our democracy. What happened in the Tennessee Legislature shows just how fragile our democracy is, and if it can happen in Nashville,  it can happen in communities all over our country. The CBC stands committed to doing all we can to push back against this, or any other attempts to chip away at the fundamental principles of our democracy.”