Nashville sued the state four times last year. Here’s where those lawsuits stand today.

As Tennessee nears its next legislative session, remnants of the previous session linger.

In 2023, the Republican-led legislature passed a host of preemption bills, compromising Nashville’s right to self-governance. In response, Nashville sued.

The state approved at least seven preemption laws. The city filed lawsuits against four: an attempt to reduce the size of Metro Council by half, the undoing of a charter referendum pertaining to the fairgrounds racetrack demolition and overhauls of the Airport and Sports Authority boards.

The sheer quantity is unparalleled.

“To have four constitutional cases against the state in one year has never happened,” Metro Law Director Wally Dietz says. “Absolutely unprecedented.”

Across all cases, Metro drew upon the Tennessee Constitution’s “home rule” amendments. These amendments, which were added to the constitution in 1953, say that cities who adopt “home rule” — like Nashville — may adopt and change its own charter by local referendum. This enables voters to decide on charter changes without approval from the state legislature.

All four cases drew upon the “local legislation clause” of the home rule amendment — when legislation targets one local government, it must be approved by that government’s voters or council.

The cases were all filed in Davidson County Chancery Court. This subjects them to a ruling by three-judge panels. A law passed in 2021 requires that the judges in these cases cannot all be from Davidson County — rather, there must be one judge from each of Tennessee’s three grand divisions: East, Middle and West Tennessee.

The city has notched victories — in some form — in all four cases. Dietz says these victories indicate a favorable outcome for the city.

“It’s bipartisan. It’s across the state, across the board,” Dietz says. “And that’s one of the reasons we believe these decisions we have won are so powerful — because we have gotten unanimous verdicts in each one of our cases.”

But, between temporary injunctions and appeals, three of the four cases are still playing out in court.

Follow along below for information and updates on each lawsuit.

Metro Council Reduction Act

In March, the legislature successfully passed the Metro Council Reduction Act, capping the size of metropolitan and municipal governments at 20 members. While sponsors of the bill said it was an attempt at streamlining city council business, Nashville was quick to point out that they were one of the few governing bodies in the state impacted by the bill — a key point in the lawsuit.

And, with council elections approaching, Metro moved quickly to sue. By April, the city was granted a temporary injunction based on the home rule amendment. The three-judge panel agreed that the bill “appears to restructure the metropolitan council, and only the metropolitan council, to reduce its membership by half.”

This ruling allowed the 2023 Metro Council elections to proceed as usual, with a 40-seat council voted on in August.

However, the question of what comes next remains. The injunction was temporary, meaning that the law could still have an impact on the 2027 Metro Council election. A hearing is scheduled this year, on April 24, where the three-judge panel will hear arguments on whether or not the statute applies for 2027.

Dietz anticipates a ruling sometime this summer. He says this will allow time for appeals to play out and, if the city were to come out victorious, enough time for the Metro Planning Department to redraw the map for a reduced council.

Fairgrounds racetrack

For over a decade, Nashville has been considering what to do with its century-old fairgrounds racetrack. In 2011, Nashville voters approved a charter referendum that required at least 27 Metro Council members to vote in favor of any demolition of fairgrounds buildings.

Over the last few years, conversations have started to heat up around racetrack renovations. In 2022, Bristol Motor Speedway and former Mayor John Cooper proposed a deal to restore the track. But, the last Metro Council tabled the bill and Bristol said they would defer it until the new administration took office.

In the meantime, the state legislature passed a bill reversing the 2011 charter referendum, effectively undoing the wishes of Nashville’s voters. They decided that the 40-member Metro Council needed only a simple majority to demolish fairgrounds buildings.

In May, Metro sued, arguing that the bill was unconstitutional in its singular focus on Nashville. In September, a three-judge panel ruled in Metro’s favor. The state opted not to appeal.

Airport Authority

The Metro Nashville Airport Authority board, which oversees business for the Nashville International and John C. Tune airports, is (originally, at least) compromised of seven members, all appointed by the mayor and approved by the Metro Council.

Last session, the legislature passed a bill establishing a new, eight-seat board. The mayor would retain the power to appoint two of the seats. The remaining six appointments would be made by the governor and the Senate and House Speakers. The bill also expanded the Airport Authority’s control over zoning across Davidson County.

The legislature justified the move on the basis of the airport’s finances, as the state funds a large portion of the airport’s upkeep.

Before the governor signed the legislation, a Federal Aviation Administration official warned the governor that it could jeopardize key federal funding and bring possible litigation. Which, it did — in June, the city sued the state. Nashville argued that the bill, again, targeted specifically Nashville. They also referenced a clause that prevents the state from removing local officials from their positions and the “equal protection clause,” which says the state cannot treat specific government entities differently than others.

At the end of October, the three-judge panel sided with Metro, effectively ousting the state-appointed board.

Confusion ensued. Two members of the original, local board had vacated their seats to join the state-appointed one. The state board had also voted on 17 contracts during their time in power — leading to uncertainty over whether to ratify them.

Furthermore, the state opted to appeal the ruling. The case is now in the Intermediate Court of Appeals, but a briefing scheduled has not yet been issued. Dietz says he doesn’t anticipate a ruling from the Court of Appeals until the end of the 2024.

In the meantime, the original, Metro board is back in control.

Sports Authority

In an effort reminiscent of the Airport Authority overhaul, the legislature also turned its attention toward the body that oversees Nashville’s sports facilities: the Sports Authority.

Initially, the state proposed to overtake the board entirely. Eventually, a scaled-back version of the bill passed both chambers, instead reallocating some seats of the 13-member board as state appointees. The legislation would see the governor appoint six seats and the mayor — who previously appointed all seats — select the remaining seven.

In October, Metro sued the state, citing the same home rule violations as listed in the Airport Authority case.

The state pointed to their $760 million investment in the new Titans Stadium as reasoning. In response, Dietz points to the inconsistent treatment between Nashville and Memphis.

“The problem with that argument was that the state just put $350 million into the FedEx Forum in Memphis and another sports facility in Memphis. And they didn’t say we’ve got to be on the Memphis Sports Authority,” Dietz says. “So it was hypocritical, and we called them out on that.”

The Sports Authority case was the last lawsuit Metro filed against the state in 2023. On Dec. 22, a three-judge panel ruled in favor of the city.

The state is still within their 30-day period to file an appeal.

The next legislative session will commence on Jan. 9. Dietz says he is hopeful that this session will not bring the same challenges of the last year.

This post will be updated to reflect changes to the lawsuits.