Demonstrate for Democracy plans 'People's Filibuster' against Trump admin in Murfreesboro
The event will start at 7 a.m. May 1 and end by 8 a.m. May 2 on the public sidewalk along Medical Center Parkway, organizer Lora Hortert of Murfreesboro said.
The demonstrators will be near the Murfreesboro office of Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais located in the Fountains at Gateway office, residential, restaurant and retail development, Hortert said.
"We strongly feel this president is violating the U.S. Constitution," Hortert said.
'I think it's asinine': Federal job cuts concern VA Murfreesboro patient, park service visitor at Stones River National Battlefield and cemetery
The demonstrators have concerns about the constitutionality of deportations of immigrants who are "entitled to due process," Hortert said.
Courts should determine if immigrants can be lawfully removed or permitted to stay legally in the United States of America, suggested Hortert, who has worked as a 17-year paralegal and earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
Previous demonstration: Protesters of Trump plan Murfreesboro 'Stop the Coup March for Democracy' April 5
The demonstrators also want DesJarlais, serving District 4 including Rutherford County, and other members of Congress to use their separation of powers authority to challenge the president.
"They have the power to check him," Hortert said.
The Daily News Journal reached out to DeJarlais office's spokesman Alex Swisher Monday for comment.
DesJarlais offered a recent comment to The Daily News Journal pertaining to the Trump administration decision to revoke visas of six MTSU international students.
'President Trump is fulfilling his promise to fix our broken immigration system," DesJarlais said.
"There are a myriad of reasons why a student visa may be canceled, and the American people hired President Trump to enforce the law − something the previous administration did not do.'
Immigration issues: MTSU student body president, US Rep. DesJarlais speak out about 6 student visas being revoked
Participants of the People's Filibuster will start with a couple of short speeches, Hortert said, before reading out loud the nation's founding documents.
Readings will include the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and other amendments to the Constitution, the oath of office of Congress members, and the Federalist Papers that are essays written by three of the leaders who joined others in crafting the Constitution: James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.
The idea for the People's Filibuster came from the recent 25-hour filibuster of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, in protest of Trump's administration, Hortert said.
MTSU Constitution Day: Former VP Mike Pence defends certifying Biden's victory in 2020
Hortert has about 30 participants committed to read in the People's Filibuster so far.
"We're hoping to get up to 50," Hortert said.
Those interested can email demonstratedemocracy@gmail.com or call Hortert at 615-995-9845. She and her 22-year-old daughter, Rachel Hortert, are the main organizers of the People's Filibuster.
The organizers also have a Demonstrate for Democracy Facebook page for more information.
This is a developing story.
Free speech scholar Nadine Strossen: Rutherford County school board violates law by removing Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "Beloved,' and other books
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Demonstrators plan 'People's Filibuster' against Trump in Murfreesboro
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
2 minutes ago
- Axios
Spicy Senate fight
President Trump has added an unsolicited, high-profile confirmation fight to the Senate's plate when they're back from August recess. Why it matters: With a 140+ person backlog on civilian confirmations, Senate Republicans left Washington vowing to fast-track the rules. Senate GOP leaders told senators to be ready to move as soon as they return to D.C. in September, sources familiar tell us. Senators have suggested everything from shorter debate time to allowing more nominees to be voted on en bloc. 🌶 But the newest nominee's a doozy: Trump said yesterday he'll nominate Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after he fired Erika McEntarfer. Zoom in: Antoni's confirmation process will first have to go through the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee which is chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) Cassidy called McEntarfer's removal"understandable," and he had previously demanded answers as to why BLS's jobs reports were inaccurate. He's also up for re-election next year. But HELP includes frequent Trump critics: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Me.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). "BLS's years-long failure to produce reliable data — especially when that data has broad market-moving implications — is unacceptable," a Cassidy spokesperson told Axios. "Cassidy looks forward to meeting with Dr. Antoni to discuss how he will accomplish this."
Fox News
3 minutes ago
- Fox News
National Guard troops seen in DC amid Trump crackdown on crime in capital
The Trump administration has cited the city's crime rate for the surge in law enforcement.
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Crazy!!': How Labor Statistics staff reacted to Trump firing commissioner after dismal jobs report
WASHINGTON (AP) — 'Depressing.' 'CRAZY!!' That's how staff at the Bureau of Labor Statistics reacted after President Donald Trump fired its commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, after a dismal jobs report issued Aug. 1 undermined the White House's claims of an economic boom. The emails obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act suggest an agency with little of the corrupting partisanship that Trump had claimed. He called the report 'phony' and 'rigged' after it indicated a paltry 73,000 jobs were added in July and after downward revisions that showed 258,000 fewer jobs were added in May and June than previously reported. After the commissioner's firing, BLS employees talked about the importance of accurate numbers and professional integrity in producing data that is foundational for measuring the economy and holding elected officials accountable for how the nation performs. Officials at the agency sought to rally morale by focusing on their task at hand at a time when outside economists wondered if Trump had compromised the credibility of reports on jobs, inflation and other key economic indicators. The president has said without evidence that the numbers were meant to make him and other Republicans look bad — his latest effort to interfere with the functions of executive branch agencies, including the Federal Reserve. 'This news is sudden, but our mission is unchanged — to provide high quality data to the nation,' William Wiatrowski, the acting commissioner, told the staff in an email. 'Thank you for all the good work you do.' One assistant commissioner told staff to persevere just as a ship's crew might after losing its captain. 'We may have lost our captain but the ship will not go down,' the assistant commissioner wrote. 'We will neither hit an iceberg and sink to the ocean floor, nor run aground on a low-lying shoal. We are not rudderless. We remain ... guided by our mission to provide gold-standard statistics the public can trust.' For her part, McEntarfer stayed stoic in her email to staff, choosing not to dwell on her firing by the president. Instead, she thanked BLS employees for the importance of their work. "Our data moves markets because it is some of the most timely and accurate information on economic conditions that businesses and policymakers have," she wrote. 'BLS data impacts the decisions of the Fed, the President, Congress, and millions of businesses and households. The work of this agency is vital to the US economy.' The White House maintains that McEntarfer was removed because the size of the revisions suggested that the monthly jobs report was flawed. As part of each jobs report, the BLS revises the prior months' data two times. It also issues an annual benchmark revision after getting more complete survey information, an effort that is meant to balance being timely with being accurate. Trump announced Monday that he would nominate E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to lead the BLS. Antoni told Fox News Digital in an interview before the announcement that the BLS 'should suspend issuing the monthly job reports' because of inaccuracies and offer quarterly updates instead. When asked at Tuesday's White House briefing whether the monthly jobs report would continue to be released, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration hoped it would be. 'I believe that is the plan and that's the hope,' Leavitt said.
