A three-judge panel ruled in favor of Metro Nashville on Monday in a lawsuit against Gov. Bill Lee over a 2023 law that would have sliced the number of Metro Councilmembers in half — from 40 to 20.
The 2-1 decision comes after Metro Legal argued against the state in May in front of the panel of judges, composed of Chancellor Patricia Moskal, Chancellor Jerri Bryant and Judge Joseph Howell.
Associate Metro legal director Allison Bussell argued that the law was unconstitutional under the Home Rule amendment, which does not allow bills that target a local government. The only two other metropolitan governments in the state are Lynchburg-Moore County and Hartsville-Trousdale County, and neither is larger than the 20-member cap.
Moskal and Bryant agreed in the ruling, with Howell both concurring and dissenting in part. It is unclear if the state will appeal.
Metro Legal Department contends language of act renders mandate moot
"The Court finds Section 1(a) applies, and was designed to apply, to Metro alone," the ruling states. "Section 1(a) is not a statute of statewide application; indeed, its application to a lone county is the clearest possible example of local in effect."
Section 1(a) of the law was the mandate to reduce a metropolitan government's council size to 20 members. The ruling called the section "unconstitutional, invalid and of no effect" under the Home Rule Amendment and added that Lee cannot enforce it.
The judges also concluded that Section 1(a) can be severed from the rest of the Act and should be removed. The judgment notes "other provisions of the Act do not apply to Metro," such as Section 1(c), which puts a 20-member cap on future metro governments formed after the Act.
New state laws aren’t passing constitutional muster
Metro had been granted a temporary injunction from the law in April 2023 because the requirements to change the council size would have been an "upheaval of the election process" with Davidson County's Aug. 3, 2023, election just ahead.
Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly pushed the bill after the Metro Council would not support a Nashville bid to host the 2024 Republican National Convention, which was ultimately held in Milwaukee earlier this month. Metro has now won in court several lawsuits involving bills aimed at Nashville's government.
“I’m pleased with the court's decision to allow Nashville to have the authority to choose the size of its Metropolitan Council," says Mayor Freddie O'Connell in a statement. "I’m grateful to Director of Law Wally Dietz and his team for their excellent work throughout this litigation. 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.”
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
