(The Center Square) – A U.S. District Court judge said the Memphis City Council’s ban on Tennessee congressional candidate Justin Pearson would lead Pearson to “suffer an injury” to his First Amendment rights, clearing the way for Pearson to attend Tuesday’s meeting.
The council is scheduled to consider final approval of a moratorium on data centers at the meeting. Pearson, Democratic candidate for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District seat, used a megaphone to speak during a raucous city council meeting on Oct. 6.
In a letter to Pearson included in the court documents, Council Chairwoman Jana Swearengen-Washington called Pearson’s behavior “disruptive” and a violation of the council’s Rules of Decorum and banned him and others from the next two council meetings.
Pearson sued Swearengen-Washington and the council in federal court, asking for a temporary restraining order to stop the council from enforcing the ban. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker for the Western District of Tennessee said he acknowledged the council’s concerns about disruption.
“And nothing in the TRO prevents defendants from enforcing the decorum rules during the meeting,” Parker said. “They just cannot do it arbitrarily and based on viewpoint. The court thus finds the balance of the equities favors plaintiffs.”
Parker said Pearson has shown the likelihood of irreparable harm is high.
“The harm is certain and imminent because the plaintiffs will suffer an injury to their First Amendment rights if defendants do not lift their ban immediately,” Parker said. “And as stated above, plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged a credible threat of enforcement of the speech and decorum policy. The loss of plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights cannot be repaired after the fact.”
Pearson is running against Republican Brent Taylor in a newly reconfigured 9th Congressional District that now puts Memphis and Shelby County in three districts instead of one. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the lone Democrat in Tennessee’s congressional delegation, decided not to run for reelection.
Pearson was expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives along with Nashville Democratic Rep. Justin Jones in 2023 for speaking through megaphones during a debate about gun control. Both regained their House seats in special elections.
“Democratic Socialist Justin Pearson has no respect for law enforcement and causes chaos everywhere he goes,” Taylor told The Center Square. “Comrade Pearson is now furthering the chaos by engaging in lawfare against a Democrat-controlled City Council for enforcing rules of decorum.”
