A Push to Reset TN’s Judicial Playing Field

In Middle Tennessee, only Davidson, Sumner and Coffee counties have their own judicial districts, despite population trends.

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says it’s time to redraw the boundary lines separating the domains of District Attorneys. At a press conference Monday, he’ll ask for buy-in from prosecutors and those on the bench.

There are glaring disparities. For instance, Coffee County – with 53,000 residents – has it’s own judicial district. Rutherford County has five times the population but is lumped in with neighboring Cannon County.

Ramsey says the imbalance leads to inefficient courts, so he’s proposing a reset for the first time in decades.

“It’ll be very controversial because the judges for the most part, the DA’s for the most part, they don’t want change. But I think there’s a better way of doing this.”

Ramsey is asking for the legal community’s ideas on shaking up the state’s 31 judicial districts.

He’s also pushing state legislation that would require lines to be redrawn every 10 years.