After the political dust settled on January 6th, a friend asked me, “David, is the Republic lost?” The House Civil Justice Subcommittee’s actions on Tuesday regarding Metro-Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle showed that the answer is yes. The subcommittee’s actions can be fixed, if you insist loudly enough. Here is what happened and what you can do.

One of the most important constitutional issues before the Tennessee General Assembly is House Resolution 23 by Representative Tim Rudd. It calls for the creation of a House and Senate Committee to determine whether Chancellor Ellen Lyle should be removed from office as a consequence of her decision to add “exceptions” to the enacted law governing absentee ballots for people who were afraid of being around other voters who might have COVID. You need to know what is at stake.

The Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes June 1, and it is still up in the air as to how much regular business it will conduct. I suspect it will be rather short, because primary season will be around the corner. But I have come to believe that perhaps the thing voters most need to know about legislative candidates isn’t where they stand on policy issues; it is something more fundamental.