Evening Summary
After an intense week of news, I am signing off of the Guardian’s live blog. Here are some of the biggest things to happen today. Thanks for joining us, and we wish everyone a peaceful holiday weekend.
A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas has ordered a hold on the US approval of the abortion medication mifepristone, one of the two drugs commonly used for medication abortions, in a closely watched case brought by anti-abortion activists.
Kamala Harris spoke at Fisk University in Nashville to show support for the two Black lawmakers who were ousted following an anti-gun protest on the statehouse floor. During the last-minute visit, Harris reaffirmed the Biden administration’s consistent calls for Congress to impose a ban on assault weapons.
Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona senator who flipped from the Democratic party to become an independent in December, is planning to defend her seat next year, the Wall Street Journal reported, setting up a three-way contest in the highly competitive state.
Supreme court justice Clarence Thomas defended himself after reports he accepted decades of undeclared hospitality from a Republican mega-donor. Thomas, a staunch conservative, says he didn’t believe he was required to disclose it.
The Biden administration released a proposal that would forbid schools and colleges across the US from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes competing in sports.
US officials say they suspect Russia is behind the leaking and posting on social media of top secret documents, including an assessment of the country’s progress in its war in Ukraine.
Republicans in Kansas voted to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, but the bill is likely to be vetoed by Democratic governor Laura Kelly.
Updated
A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas has ordered a hold on the US approval of the abortion medication mifepristone, one of the two drugs commonly used for medication abortions, in a closely watched case brought by anti-abortion activists.
US district judge Matthew J Kacsmaryk signed an injunction directing the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stay mifepristone’s approval while a lawsuit challenging the safety and approval of the drug continues. The immediate impact of the ruling was not clear, including how quickly access to the abortion pill might be curtailed.
In a statement on the ruling, Senator Elizabeth Warren called on Merrick Garland to swiftly appeal the decision:
“Because of today’s lawless ruling by an extremist Republican judge, women across the country could lose access to a safe and legal medication they’ve relied on for decades. Attorney General Garland should quickly appeal this decision in order to preserve access to medication abortion, and I urge the Biden administration to use every legal and regulatory tool in its power to keep this drug available.”
The case against the FDA was brought by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian conservative legal advocacy group, arguing that the FDA exceeded its regulatory authority when it approved mifepristone more than two decades ago, in 2000.
In the complaint, the group argues that the drug puts the health of women and girls at risk and invoked a 19th-century law that made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or lascivious” items through the mail, including pornography and abortifacients.
Updated
While speaking at Fisk University, Kamala Harris reaffirmed the Biden administration’s consistent calls for Congress to impose a ban on assault weapons.
Her visit to the HBCU comes on the heels of the expulsion of Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, Democratic state lawmakers who held a protest on the Tennessee statehouse floor while it was in session. The protest was meant to draw attention to the 27 March killing of three students and three school staff at a Christian school in Nashville.
“Assault weapons. These are weapons of war. These are weapons that are designed to kill a lot of people quickly. They have no place on the streets of a civil society.”
— Becca Andrews (@kbeccaandrews) April 7, 2023
Updated
Kamala Harris and the three Tennessee lawmakers at the center of an unprecedented expulsion effort are gathered at a chapel on the campus of Fisk, a historically Black university in Nashville.
Updated
Kamala Harris is currently meeting with the Democratic lawmakers of Tennessee’s statehouse at Fisk University, the alma mater of Justin Jones, who alongside Justin Pearson, was expelled from the state legislature yesterday.
After meeting with officials, Harris will address the hundreds of people gathered at the Fisk memorial chapel. The vice-president is expected to voice her support of Jones, Pearson and Gloria Johnson (the sole legislator to keep her seat) and renew the Biden administration’s call for an assault weapons ban, according to CNN.
Becca Andrews is in the chapel and we’ll be sharing her dispatches on the blog.
It’s feeling even more like a church service in here. Lots of call and response, lots of amens, go on’s, that’s right’s. There is love and passion in this sanctuary.
— Becca Andrews (@kbeccaandrews) April 7, 2023
Updated
We are keeping an eye on Kamala Harris’s last-minute trip to Tennessee following the expulsion of two Black lawmakers via Becca Andrews, a reporter based in Nashville. She is sitting in what appears to be a church sanctuary awaiting Harris’s arrival.
I’m covering @VP’s appearance to support the #Tennessee3 in Nashville today for @guardian. Follow along here! pic.twitter.com/iqOTpml3Yr
— Becca Andrews (@kbeccaandrews) April 7, 2023
Updated
Two Black parents, their midwife and other supporters are calling on Dallas child protective services to return an infant who advocates say was “kidnapped” because the couple chose to use a midwife and treat their child’s jaundice at home instead of at a hospital, Jezebel reports.
Rodney and Temecia Jackson of Dallas say that police came to their home late last month to tell them that they had to turn their daughter Mila over based on a doctor’s report. They refused, and days later police returned, arrested Rodney, and used his key to enter the home and take the infant from Temecia.
I felt like they had stolen my baby, as I’d had a home birth. I didn’t know where to turn,” Temecia said.
This is one of the latest examples of what advocates describe as a historical pattern of US child welfare services dividing poor, Black and Indigenous families in particular on the grounds of alleged neglect and abuse. As my colleague Edwin Rios reported in March, Bianca Clayborne and Deonte Williams’s five children were taken into the state of Tennessee’s custody after Williams was arrested during a traffic stop.
The state’s department of children’s services ultimately alleged that Clayborne and Williams’s children were being abused to obtain an emergency order to take them away.
Read more of Edwin’s coverage here.
And the Jezebel article here.
Updated
Good afternoon, I’m Abené Clayton, taking over the blog from the west coast.
My colleague Martin Pengelly reported on Clarence Thomas’s response to Thursday’s ProPublica investigation that found that the supreme court justice has long accepted expensive gifts, including yacht trips and luxury resort stays, from Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow.
Thomas says that he was advised early on in his tenure that this “personal hospitality from close personal friends” did not need to be disclosed.
But a rule change last month now requires gifts like rides on private jets to be reported. Thomas says he will follow the updated guidance in the future.
Following the ProPublica report, the justice has been lambasted by Democratic officials including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said: “Thomas must be impeached,” as the court was becoming known for “rank corruption, erosion of democracy and the stripping of human rights”.
Read the rest of Martin’s story here.
Updated
Kyrsten Sinema, the enigmatic Arizona senator who stunned colleagues by announcing she was flipping to become an independent after Democrats retained control of the chamber in December, plans to defend her seat, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper reported on Friday that Sinema is “preparing for a re-election campaign, setting the stage for what could be an unpredictable three-way contest” next year in the key swing state.
The article said Sinema met with staff at a retreat in Phoenix earlier this week to begin laying the groundwork for her campaign.
Along with West Virginia Democrat and centrist senator Joe Manchin, Sinema was a holdout on several key elements of Joe Biden’s legislative agenda during the first two years of his administration, though she still caucuses with, and usually votes in tandem with Democrats.
Updated
A federal appeals court sided with the justice department on Friday in a case that could have upended hundreds of charges brought in the January 6 Capitol riot, the Associated Press reports.
The decision, however, leaves open the possibility of further challenges to the charge of obstruction of Congress, which has been brought against more than 300 defendants in the massive federal prosecutions following the deadly violence, the agency says.
BREAKING: THREAD: This is significant. The appellate court has REVERSED judge Nichols ruling that 18 USC 1512(c)(2) Obstructing an Official Proceeding doesn’t apply to January 6. 1/
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) April 7, 2023
In a 2-1 ruling, a three judge panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit said a lower court judge was wrong in dismissing the charge in three cases in which the judge concluded it didn’t cover the defendants’ conduct. Those defendants may ask the full appeals court or the supreme court to review the decision.
The charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, which carries a prison term of up to 20 years, is among the most widely used felony charges in the January 6 cases. It has been brought against extremists accused of plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden as well as in dozens of less serious cases.
Updated
Spared Tennessee lawmaker: Republicans 'talked down' to Black colleagues
Gloria Johnson, the Tennessee Democratic house lawmaker spared from expulsion as two Black colleagues were booted, is accusing Republicans of conducting effectively a sham trial.
Johnson has just been speaking on CNN, where she said she was subjected to a markedly different tone during questioning than that directed at her ousted Black colleagues Justin Jones and Justin Pearson:
Justin Jones, whose resolution went before mine, made such a beautiful defense. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I could never be that eloquent and articulate’. [He is] a powerful speaker, and Justin Pearson after that.
But when you heard the tone of the questioning in there, on how they were questioned, and how I was questioned, it was clear what that was about.
They were talking down, they were rude. It was like they were prosecutors, but then they didn’t allow us to build a defense. They allowed themselves to bring video but we were told we could not bring video.
They were dishonest throughout the procedure.
Johnson took issue with a statement from Republican caucus chair Jeremy Faison, who said the trio might have been spared an expulsion vote of they had apologized for taking part in a protest on the House floor for gun reforms:
They can say that now. But that certainly wasn’t the tone of the questioning.
Rep. @Justinjpearson: “You all heard that. How many of you would want to be spoken to that way?”
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 6, 2023
Pearson responds to Rep. Farmer’s belittling, disrespectful rant. #TennesseeThree pic.twitter.com/5uWznU7atq
Regarding meeting vice-president Kamala Harris later, Johnson said she would be raising the immediate need for firearms reforms following last week’s mass shooting at Nashville’s Covenant school that left six dead:
I just want to talk about the immediacy of getting solutions for gun violence. I’m so very proud of this young generation who are organizing and fighting and working so hard, showing up and speaking up at the Capitol.
Updated
It’s a rare day on the politics blog when we get to the afternoon without a Donald Trump-related post. My colleague Kari Paul has this look at an interview given by adult movie actress Stormy Daniels, and the hush-money payment made by the former president that led to this week’s criminal charges against him:
In her first major interview since Donald Trump’s indictment, Stormy Daniels has said that while she wants the former president to be “held accountable” she doesn’t believe he should go to prison.
“I don’t think that his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration. I feel like the other things that he has done, if he is found guilty, absolutely,” Daniels, 44, said in an interview with Fox Nation’s Piers Morgan released on Thursday.
Daniels sat down with Morgan for a 1.5 hour interview, which she called her most extensive yet. She thanked people for “love and support” in a tweet, saying that the segment “laid to rest a lot of misinformation”.
When asked by Morgan how it felt to see Trump appear in court, Daniels said she was “shocked”. “I thought he was going to get away with not being accountable,” she said.
“The king has been dethroned – he’s no longer untouchable,” she said. “Nobody should be untouchable, doesn’t matter what your job description is – whether you’re the president – you should be held responsible for your actions.”
Daniels, who postponed the original timing of her interview with Morgan last week citing “security concerns”, said she was also regularly receiving threats. She told Morgan that one in 10 messages she gets now are death threats, and that the tone has become increasingly violent.
“It’s like a suicide bomber,” she said. “In the depths of their soul, they feel like they’re doing the right thing.”
Read the full story:
Updated
Senate leaders partner for detained journalist's release
A rare joint statement from Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell is calling on Russia to release an American Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested last week.
Authorities in Moscow have charged Evan Gershkovich with espionage, Reuters reported on Friday, citing the Interfax news agency. The 31-year-old journalist was detained last month during a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg, and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
According to the news agency, Gershkovich pleaded not guilty during a court hearing on Friday.
We demand the baseless, fabricated charges against Evan Gershkovich be dropped and he be immediately released by the Russian government.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 7, 2023
Let there be no mistake: journalism is not a crime.https://t.co/dK9CMrps4z
In their statement, the senate leaders insisted “journalism is not a crime”:
We strongly condemn the wrongful detention of US citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and demand the immediate release of this internationally known and respected independent journalist.
Russian authorities have failed to present any credible evidence to justify their fabricated charges.
Updated
Black Democratic party legislators in Tennessee are appealing to Republicans to hold talks with them over the shock expulsion of two state lawmakers last night because they joined a public demonstration in the legislative chamber demanding greater gun safety after yet another school shooting.
Amid news that US vice-president Kamala Harris is hastily arranging to visit Tennessee later today and meet with the ousted lawmakers, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the Tennessee Black caucus of state legislators spoke outside the state capitol a little earlier.
Representative Sam McKenzie of Knoxville, chairman of the Tennessee Black caucus, called almost unprecedented ousting of the lawmakers “an injustice”, local media reported.
“The world saw the optics. I don’t have to say a word about the fact that our two young African American brothers were unfairly prosecuted with information ... evidence introduced inappropriately, but they handled themselves like true champions,” he said.
The two lawmakers, and Democratic state representative Gloria Johnson, are now known as the Tennessee Three. Johnson narrowly survived a vote to expel her. The two men are in their twenties. Johnson is white and in her sixties. “I made it through, and these two young men did not make it through,” she said earlier today, and it was reported that she agreed when asked if her being white played a part in her not being expelled from the legislature.
Nashville representative Vincent Dixie said: “Welcome to Tennessee, where there’s a pattern of racism that has permeated these halls that we walked through that were supposed to make laws for everyone here in Tennessee.”
He continued: “The world is watching. And what are we going to do now? Is it gonna be business as usual? ‘Well, it happened to two Black men. Oh, well. Let’s move on.’ Or are we going to actually do something about it?” WBIR.com reported.
Updated
Vice-president to visit Tennessee after lawmakers kicked out
US vice-president Kamala Harris plans to travel to Nashville, Tennessee, today after the Republicans controlling the state legislature expelled two young Black lawmakers last night for joining public protests demanding greater gun safety in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in the city.
Here’s a tweet from Harris’s press secretary, Kirsten Allen.
NEW >> Today, @VP will travel to Nashville, TN. There she will meet with state lawmakers as well as young leaders who continue to demand action on common sense gun reform.https://t.co/kMeaAAF1UI
— Kirsten Allen (@KirstenAllen46) April 7, 2023
Harris will meet with the two lawmakers, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, and a third Democratic lawmaker, Gloria Johnson, who is white and narrowly avoided being expelled.
The move has been condemned as racist, anti-democratic and not in the interests of protecting children’s safety from gun violence and school shootings, critics say.
Updated
Interim summary
It’s lunchtime on Friday, and we’re waiting to hear from Democrats in Tennessee how they intend to respond to the vote by Republicans to expel two young Black Democrats from the state’s House after they led a protest calling for gun reforms.
A wave of outrage followed Thursday’s move. Joe Biden blasted the move “undemocratic” while the ACLU of Tennessee, and Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights pioneer, suggested racism was behind the action.
Both point out that the two expelled lawmakers are Black, while a third Democrat involved in the protest, who won enough support to survive the vote to oust her, is white.
Here’s what else we’ve been following:
Supreme court justice Clarence Thomas has been defending himself after reports he accepted decades or undeclared hospitality from a Republican mega-donor. Thomas, a staunch conservative, says he didn’t believe he was required to disclose it.
The Biden administration released a proposal that would forbid schools and colleges across the US from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes competing in sports.
US officials say they suspect Russia is behind the leaking and posting on social media of top secret documents, including an assessment of the country’s progress in its war in Ukraine.
Republicans in Kansas voted to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, but the bill is likely to be vetoed by Democratic governor Laura Kelly.
There’s more to come this afternoon, please stick with us.
US officials say they know who’s behind the leak and posting on social media of classified documents offering their assessment of Russia’s progress in the war in Ukraine: it’s Russia.
Reuters reported on Friday that three US officials, speaking anonymously, told the news agency that the documents also appear to have been altered to lower the number of casualties suffered by Russian forces.
The military documents offer a partial, month-old snapshot of the war, they said, adding that their assessment that Russia, or pro-Russian elements, were behind the leak was informal, and separate to an official investigation into what happened.
The three declined to discuss the documents in detail, the agency said, and the Kremlin and Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo reported on Friday that the Pentagon is investigating the security breach in which classified war documents detailing secret American and Nato plans for supplying aid to Ukraine before its prospective offensive against Russia were leaked to Telegram and Twitter.
Read more here:
Updated
The Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has added its voice to the furor over the expulsion of two Democratic Black state lawmakers by Republicans.
In a statement, Kathy Sinback, the chapter’s executive director, attacks the racial overtones of what she calls a “shameful” move:
Over the course of this legislative session, the Tennessee general assembly has systematically eroded the rights of some of the most vulnerable communities in our state. These expelled lawmakers represent over 136,000 people – predominantly people of color – in districts across the state, and this expulsion strips these voters of their representation.
BREAKING: Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson have been expelled from our state legislature, an extreme measure that undermines democracy while disenfranchising & silencing the voices of marginalized communities.
— ACLU of Tennessee (@aclutn) April 7, 2023
Our statement: https://t.co/XDHWrDIOZE
Furthermore, only a small minority of Tennessee legislators are people of color. Not only is this targeted expulsion of two Black legislators without due process an extreme measure that undermines democracy, it raises questions about the disparate treatment of Black representatives, while continuing the shameful legacy of disenfranchising and silencing the voices of marginalized communities and the Black lawmakers they elect.
This unprecedented, authoritarian effort to silence opposition sets a dangerous precedent that could threaten democracy in statehouses across the country. We will continue to fight for a state where all Tennesseans have a voice and are treated justly and equitably.”
Updated
My colleagues on the Guardian’s video production team have compiled this rather excellent look at the expulsion of two Black Democratic lawmakers by Republicans in Tennessee, noting such “banishments” have taken place only a handful of times since the American civil war.
The episode has ignited a furious backlash from Joe Biden downwards, and features elements of racism, Republicans standing in the way of gun reforms, and an assault of democracy.
The video is well worth a look. You can watch it here:
Clarence Thomas defends undeclared hospitality
Embattled supreme court justice Clarence Thomas says he believed the decades of lavish hospitality he received from a Republican mega-donor did not need to be disclosed.
The statement from the conservative justice released on Friday is his first response to the bombshell accusations by ProPublica the day before that he took travel on yachts and jets, and other gifts funded by the property billionaire Harlan Crow, but did not declare them.
Democrats are calling for Thomas’s impeachment.
In the lengthy statement, a rare move for a sitting supreme court justice, Thomas says, in part:
Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.
I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.
Thomas says he will comply with tweaks made to disclosure rules for all justices and federal judges last month that require personal hospitality to be declared.
In his own statement, reported by Law and Crime, Crow insisted he and his wife Kathy were “dear friends” with Thomas and his wife Ginni, and “we have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue”.
Read more:
Updated
Republicans in Kansas on Friday voted to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, but the bill is likely to be vetoed by Democratic governor Laura Kelly.
The Kansas house voted 70-52 to pass the bill requiring the state’s medical board to revoke the licenses of doctors who provide such care, followed by a 23-12 vote in the senate that sent the measure to Kelly’s desk, the Associated Press reported.
Kelly promised LGBTQ+ youth during a statehouse lobbying day last month that she would protect their rights and reject any measure “that aims to harm or discriminate against you”.
Supporters of the bill do not have a two-thirds majority in either chambers needed to override any veto, the AP said.
There seems to be enough support, however, for overriding Kelly’s expected veto of a transgender bathroom bill that passed the legislature by larger margins.
Read more:
Updated
White House moves to strengthen transgender protections
The Biden administration has released a proposal that would forbid schools and colleges across the US from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes competing in sports.
But teams could create some limits in certain cases – for example, to ensure fairness, according to the proposal, which did not go into extensive detail about the term.
If finalized, the proposal would become enshrined as a provision of Title IX, the federal nondiscrimination requirement in education at institutions that receive federal funding. It must undergo a lengthy approval process, however, and is almost certain to face challenges from opponents.
It comes as a slew of Republican-controlled states nationwide enact legislation banning or restricting transgender athletes taking part in sports in educational settings, and new anti-trans laws in general.
On Thursday, the US supreme court refused to let West Virginia enforce a state law banning trans athletes from female sports teams at public schools.
“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination,” said Miguel Cardona, Biden’s education secretary, in a statement.
Read the full story:
Updated
Here’s a selection of Twitter reactions to the expulsion by Tennessee Republicans of two Black Democratic lawmakers for joining a protest for stronger gun laws.
The overriding theme seems to be that it’s a fight for democracy that’s just beginning, and the nation’s young people will be leading the charge.
From Democratic New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
Republicans may think they won today in Tennessee, but their fascism is only further radicalizing and awakening an earthquake of young people, both in the South and across the nation.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 6, 2023
If you thought youth organizing was strong, just wait for what’s coming. Gen Z don’t play https://t.co/gPwoFI7uib
From NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner:
The naked racism of those Republican legislators in Tennessee should serve as a stark reminder that American apartheid endures. This is OUR struggle. All of us. There is no justice if there’s not equal justice. And yes, #JusticeMatters pic.twitter.com/rsyEgv5ZdB
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) April 7, 2023
From Mallory McMorrow, Democratic Michigan state senator and gun reform advocate:
Tennessee Republicans thought they could silence three House Reps just because they spoke out of turn to recognize Tennesseans demanding action on gun violence.
— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) April 7, 2023
Today, they expelled two young Black men from office.
… and they handed them a national stage.
Let’s. Go. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/ulqVxaE4Br
From Joe Walsh, former Republican congressman, now a political analyst:
Tennessee Republicans just fucked up. Big time. And like every other cruel, intolerant, bigoted, authoritarian, & anti-democratic Republican fuck up of the past 7 yrs, this fuck up will hurt them politically. It will continue the shrinking of & ultimate demise of my former party.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) April 7, 2023
California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom:
Tennessee:
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 7, 2023
“You ban books, you ban drag— kids are still in body bags.” pic.twitter.com/SmRJDjATU3
And finally, for now, the Tennessee house Republicans, who insist they were “obliged” to take action because the two expelled Democrats were “disrespectful”:
— TN House Republicans (@tnhousegop) April 7, 2023
Updated
Democrats in Tennessee are planning to reveal their next moves later on Friday in the wake of the “racist” expulsion by Republicans from the state house of two Black lawmakers for taking part in a protest for tighter gun laws.
It comes as Joe Biden and others weigh in on the “undemocratic” actions of the Republicans in booting two of three Democrats who joined the protest that followed last week’s Covenant school shooting in Nashville that killed six, including three nine-year-olds.
The two politicians ousted for a “breach of decorum”, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, are Black. A third Democrat, Gloria Johnson, who survived the expulsion vote, is white.
The president, in a statement released last night, condemned Republicans for playing politics, and not focusing on “commonsense gun safety reforms”:
Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic and without precedent. Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.
This morning, Martin Luther King III, son of the famed civil rights leader, praised the two expelled politicians and launched an attack on the “unconscionable” actions by the majority party for ignoring gun reform. On CNN he said:
Our nation refuses to deal with this issue. I’m so excited that these young men are fighting for democracy.
We had an assault ban until 2014, it’s very sad. [But] people can stand up and things can change, my father and mother taught us that.
The episode, he said, made it “crystal clear” that “racism is still very real”:
We’ve got to eradicate this evil. My dad used to say darkness cannot put out darkness, only light can do that.
It just goes to show how sad and tragic and divisive, and how awful racism is. We are better than that. We have got to change this behavior.
Jones, in comments on Thursday, said the nation was watching. “They think this issue is over. We’ll see you on Monday,” he said, referring to more protests likely to draw thousands to Nashville.
We’re waiting to learn what moves the Democrats might make. There will almost certainly be special elections, in which Jones and Pearson, who represent about 130,000 constituents between them, will be eligible to run. And they could be reinstated meanwhile by their county commissions.
Read the latest on this story here from the Guardian’s Nina Lakhani:
Updated
Key event
A Good Friday good morning to our US politics blog readers! There’s more than a whiff of racism hanging over the Tennessee state house this morning, where Republican lawmakers on Thursday expelled two of three Democrats who took part in a rowdy gun control protest on the chamber floor.
Those ousted are Black, while the third, who survived the expulsion vote, is white. Their perceived crime was “breaking decorum” for joining constituents demanding tighter gun laws in the wake of last week’s Covenant school shooting in Nashville that killed six, including three nine-year-olds.
Reaction to the expulsions has been swift as observers mull elements of racism, gun rights and an attack on democracy. Joe Biden called it “undemocratic”, while Martin Luther King III said on CNN Friday: “Racism is still very real … we have got to eradicate this evil.”
We’ll have more coming up. Here’s what else we’re watching today:
Conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas is facing calls for his impeachment after it was revealed he accepted undeclared luxury gifts from a Republican mega-donor for more than two decades.
Stormy Daniels, the adult movie actress paid off by Donald Trump to keep quiet about an encounter before the 2016 election, says in a new interview the former president has been “dethroned”. Trump appeared in court this week charged with falsifying business records relate to the pay-off.
Democrats in North Carolina are fuming over the defection of a lawmaker, giving Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the state house for critical issues such as abortion, voting rights and gun controls.
Biden received good economic news on Friday with figures showing unemployment in the US down to 3.5%, and 236,000 jobs added in March.
Senate and House lawmakers are on their Easter break, and neither Biden nor vice-president Kamala Harris have any public events scheduled.
Updated
