Oklahoma Republicans removed the state\u2019s only nonbinary legislator from House committees after the lawmaker provided refuge to a transgender rights activist. In Florida, two Democratic leaders were arrested for participating in a protest over abortion restrictions. And in Tennessee, three Democratic House members are facing expulsion for using a bullhorn in the House chamber to show support for demonstrators demanding gun control.
In an increasingly polarized political atmosphere, experts say these kinds of harsh punishments for minority party members standing up for principles they believe in are becoming more common, especially when acts of civil disobedience clash with the rigid policies and procedures of legislative decorum.
The modern-day division between Democrats and Republicans is at its highest level since immediately after the Civil War, said Scot Schraufnagel, a political science professor at Northern Illinois University who has studied and written about political incivility.
\u201cI used to teach students that it\u2019s not as bad as it once was,\u201d Schraufnagel said. \u201cIt\u2019s as bad or worse than it\u2019s ever been, with the caveat that we don\u2019t have data from pre-Civil War era.\u201d
While many Republican leaders are loudly complaining about the arrest of former President Donald Trump on 34 felony criminal charges, it\u2019s members of the Democratic minority in GOP-led states who have been facing a crackdown for their political actions.
\u201cOver the last few years, I feel like the extremism has increased and the polarization has gotten worse,\u201d said Oklahoma House Minority Leader Rep. Cyndi Munson, whose Democratic colleague Rep. Mauree Turner was formally censured by the GOP-controlled House after a transgender rights protester involved in a scuffle with Capitol police sought refuge in Turner\u2019s office.
\u201cObviously we\u2019re seeing this in Oklahoma \u2026 this desire (for Republicans) to use their power to silence anyone who doesn\u2019t think like them. They seem to want to shut out and silence people who don\u2019t think exactly like they do.\u201d
Turner, one of the few Black legislators in the Legislature and the first openly nonbinary and Muslim person elected to state office in Oklahoma, was told they could be restored to their committees if they apologized to the House and to the Capitol patrol. Turner said that won\u2019t happen.
\u201cI can\u2019t apologize for loving the people of Oklahoma enough to fight for their rights,\u201d Turner said this week.
Weeks later, when a Republican colleague was censured over an arrest for public drunkenness during which he tried to claim legislative immunity, Turner joined some other Democrats in voting against the punishment.
\u201cI will not put people in a physical prison, I will not put people in a social prison,\u201d Turner said, \u201cand I sure as hell won\u2019t put them in a political prison.\u201d
In Tennessee, Republicans will vote Thursday on whether to kick Democratic Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson out of their offices for taking to the front of the House and chanting back and forth with gun control supporters who packed the gallery days after The Covenant School shooting in Nashville that killed six people, including three children. Expulsions in the Tennessee General Assembly are extremely rare and typically center on criminal activity.
House Minority Leader Karen Camper described her Democratic colleagues\u2019 actions as \u201cgood trouble,\u201d a nod to the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis\u2019 guiding principal on civil disobedience.
As scrutiny over the expulsion effort increased, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday criticized Republican lawmakers\u2019 focus on rebuking Democrats for protesting rather than addressing solutions to avoid another school shooting.
\u201cWhat did the Republican legislators do? They\u2019re trying to expel these three Democratic legislators who joined in the protest,\u201d Jean-Pierre said, adding that GOP members are \u201cshrugging in the face of yet another tragic school shooting while our kids continue to pay the price.\u201d
In Florida, Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book is not expected to face any legislative discipline after she and Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried were arrested and charged with trespassing for refusing to leave a protest in Tallahassee against a bill to ban abortions after six weeks.
Fried, who was Florida\u2019s agriculture commissioner and the only statewide elected Democrat before losing a campaign for governor last year, just took over a party that is at its lowest point in state history. Book said she realizes the Republican supermajority in the Legislature can pass whatever it wants regardless of what Democrats do.
\u201cIt\u2019s my charge to lead a group of 11 other Democrats \u2026 and to get them excited every single day to fight a battle that a lot of times we know we\u2019re going to lose,\u201d Book said.
Schraufnagel, the professor, said much of the incivility is a result of a political-agenda shift toward hot-button topics like abortion, gun restrictions and transgender rights.
\u201cWhat\u2019s happened is that politicians have used social issues to try to drive wedges into the voting base of their opponents,\u201d Schraufnagel said. \u201cWhen we have intense polarization, which is the current era, and you add incivility to the mix, we\u2019re getting hyper-conflict that is not conducive to effective governance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n