Judges strike down Tennessee law to cut Nashville council in half

A panel of judges has struck down a change Tennessee Republican lawmakers approved last year that would cut the size of Democratic-leaning Nashville’s Metro Council in half.

The decision Monday marks another court defeat for a series of new state laws passed to cut into Nashville’s autonomy, extending to its international airport and pro sports facilities. The wave of restrictions followed a decision by local Nashville leaders to spike a proposal in 2022 to bring the 2024 Republican National Convention to Music City.

In this week's 2-1 ruling, the majority decided that state lawmakers designed a 20-member limit on the number of council members in metro governments to affect only Nashville, which has 40 people on its council. The law had been temporarily blocked in court so it would not affect the August 2023 council elections, prompting the attorney general's office to decline to appeal and say the law would take effect for the 2027 elections.

The latest court decision halts the law permanently, declaring it unconstitutional under home rule protections in the Tennessee Constitution because it singles out Nashville and fails to require approval by local voters or two-thirds of the metro council.

It is unclear whether the state will appeal the ruling. Amy Lannom Wilhite, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office, said officials there are reviewing the ruling and will decide their next steps shortly.

Nashville has operated as a combined city-county government under a 40-member council since 1963, when leaders were wrestling with consolidating the city with the surrounding county, and others were working to ensure Black leaders maintain a strong representation in the Southern city.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell applauded the ruling, noting that voters declined to reduce the council’s size nine years ago.

"The Metro Charter gives Nashvillians the right to determine the size of our Metro Council, and as recently as 2015, we decisively concluded we prefer 40 members,” O'Connell said in a statement.

The law would only apply to city or city-county governments, though no other Tennessee city or city-county government has more than 20 members. The lawsuit focused on city-county governments.

In dissent, one judge wrote that the law does not violate home rule protections because other governments would have to keep their numbers below the new limit.

Before 2023, Republican lawmakers had passed laws that upended policies they didn’t like in Nashville, in addition to in left-leaning Memphis. But the tense exchange over the Republican National Convention spurred the package of bills targeting Nashville last year. There was no similar slate of Nashville-centered bills during this year's legislative session, with a new mayor in office and a growing number of court rulings against the new laws.

In one of the other lawsuits filed by Nashville officials, a judicial panel ruled the state cannot enforce a law making it easier to pass changes through the metro council to the local fairgrounds speedway, which is being considered for upgrades in hopes of drawing a NASCAR race. The state declined to appeal that ruling.

A court panel likewise ruled it was unconstitutional for Tennessee lawmakers to pass a state takeover of Nashville International Airport’s board without approval from city officials or voters. The law let state officials appoint six of eight board members, leaving only two picks for the mayor, who has historically selected the seven-member board. The state is appealing the ruling.

Judges also temporarily blocked the law that would reconfigure the group overseeing professional sports facilities in Nashville by letting state leaders pick six of its 13 board members. The case is on hold while the state appeals the airport board ruling.