from the white house, two of the tennessee three state representatives justin j. pearson and gloria johnson representatives thank you for joining us and representative pearson, i ll start with you. what was president biden s message to you during the course of that meeting? president biden s message was very clear. that we have to remain cons consistent and persistent to end gun violence and to fight for gun reform legislation into our state and other states and across our country through congress and the federal legislature. the other thing that was really true and apparent in his statements and also vice president harris was that we have to continue to fight to preserve our democracy and in a place like tennessee where the leadership too often is going for a mob-ock rassy, where the people voice is being heard, this is an important message for the young people and people who are organizing for change. representative johnson, among the gun control policies, you discussed today wi
good question. certainly in addition to uvalde, you also had a significant ruling from the supreme court on concealed carry this summer, and you had the first bipartisan gun restrictions put in place at the federal level in decades. so it probably seems weird to people on the surface. but one thing to consider is that a lot of times that after major events like uvalde, you ll see a spike in interest and support for gun control policies. and then that will wane over time. part of this is a cyclical nature of how this issue ebbs and flows in response to high profile shootings. and i think there s also that bipartisan bill probably helped that process along to lessen the interest, which was i mean, one of the goals, mitch mcconnell said that, told politico this is one of the reasons they agreed to get on board with that bill. i wonder too if it xibl exhia
it is not as polarizing and radical as some cautious dems would have you believe. as the court s own website acknowledges, the number changed six times before settling it nine in 1869. and even since that date, the number of justices on the bench hasn t always been consistent. need i remind you of 2016, when republicans launched an 11 month blockade a mayor garland s nomination to the supreme court, in the wake of antonin scalia. they kept the supreme court at just eight justices for almost a year. and they are stating the stage to do something similar again. mitch mcconnell has said he won t commit to any hearings for a biden scotus pick, if his party retake the senate and he becomes majority leader in 2023. radical is not changing the size of the court, something that has been done many times before, including by the republican six years ago. radical is what this current court has been doing over the course of its most recent term. the far-right roberts court has rolled back abortio