The constitutionality of the National Guard’s deployment will be challenged in civil court next month.
Seven elected officials are challenging Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s decision to deploy troops to Memphis, Tennessee Senate Democrats announced Tuesday. Plaintiffs include Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Memphis City Council member JB Smiley Jr., Shelby County Commissioners Henri E. Brooks and Erika Sugarmon, state Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis), state Rep. Gabby Salinas (D-Memphis), and state Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville).
The officials filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Court Friday, and said the Guard’s presence violates the Tennessee Constitution and state statues. Plaintiffs are asking the court to block the deployment on behalf of “constitutional balance between civilian and military power.”
The state’s constitution says that the military should only be called in cases of “rebellion or invasion”, and that the General Assembly should decide if “public safety requires it.”
The lawsuit claims that “no such conditions exist in Memphis today.”
“Tennessee statutes also stipulate that if the National Guard is to be deployed to address a breakdown of law and order, the city or country government must formally request it — but Memphis and Shelby County have not done so,” the Tennessee Senate Democrats said.
State officials argue that Lee did not seek the advice or consent of the state legislature in deploying the Guard — which they said was required.
“Abiding by the law isn’t partisan,and no Governor can ignore the Constitution to send troops into Tennessee towns and city,” Harris said. “Rather than restoring order, this action erodes public trust and heightens fear, underscoring that real public safety comes from investing in education, housing, and mental health, not from militarizing our communities.”
These violations have previously been called into question by both Harris and Yarbro.
In September, Harris posted on social media claiming that Lee did not have the constitutional right to send troops to Tennessee communities.
“Here’s what the Tennessee Constitution says about a Tennessee Governor sending National Guard troops into Tennessee communities this week,” Harris said on social media. “Let me summarize: He can’t do it. #FreeTennessee.”
The constitutionality was further called about by Yarbro, after two official published legal opinions were deleted from the Attorney General’s office.
According to Yabro, these opinions instructed state leaders on how to act in their official capacity.
“The reason that Americans are not used to seeing troops in combat fatigues patrolling American cities is not because nobody’s ever thought of it before — it’s because it’s illegal,” Yarbro said. “For 150 years the federal government clearly prohibited that — and in Tennessee that prohibition goes back even longer.”
