Metro Council will stay at 40 members as Nashville notches legal victory over state

Nashville’s city council will remain at 40 members after a three-judge panel struck down a state law that would have slashed the council in half.

The ruling has been more than a year in the making, ever since the state legislature passed several preemption bills in 2023 targeting Nashville’s ability to self-govern.

In response, the city filed four lawsuits, moving particularly quickly to address the Metro Council Reduction Act.

The law, which would have instituted a 20-member cap for metropolitan governing bodies, passed just a few months before a Metro Council election. In order to comply, the city rushed to redraw its council districts.

But Wally Dietz, the city’s law director, was concerned about the possible disruption to the election.

“People had already picked up petitions, appointed treasurers, were raising money, and we argued to the court you can’t change the rules in the middle of an election,” Dietz told WPLN’s daily show This is Nashville last week. “So the court gave us a unanimous 3-0 decision enjoining the law as it applied to 2023.”

In 2023, Dietz’s concern won out. The court temporarily blocked the law, and a full-size council was voted in.

Now the court has more fully weighed in — ruling that the council can remain as a 40-member body. The three-judge panel found the law in violation of Tennessee’s Constitution under the “home rule” amendment. This says when legislation targets one local government it must be approved by that government’s voters or council.

In all four of Nashville’s lawsuits against the state, Metro has argued that the state is violating “home rule.”

Following the decision, Nashville’s mayor, vice mayor and a number of councilmembers — some of whom were named as plaintiffs in the case — celebrated the city’s victory.

Congratulations to Director Dietz and our Metro Legal department on another successful defense of our right to self-determination under the Tennessee Constitution.

The Metro Charter affords us the right to decide the size of #MetroCouncilNash, and in 2015, we reiterated: 40. https://t.co/nEFqJlt88Q

— Freddie O’Connell (@freddieoconnell) July 29, 2024

Vice Mayor Angie Henderson wrote that she was grateful.

“Metro Nashville was first in the nation to fully consolidate a city and a county government, and in so doing, a 40-member, highly-representative, local legislative branch was created by the voters,” she wrote.

However, the case may not be fully finished. Two of the judges ruled in favor of the city — Nashville Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal and Chancellor Jerri S. Bryant of the 10th District Chancery Court in southeast Tennessee — and a dissent came from Judge Joseph T. Howell from Madison County. This means the state could appeal. The attorney general will have 30 days to decide whether to do so.