Metro Nashville continues the long wait for Supreme Court ruling on council size
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For three months now, the hottest website for Metro Council members, city officials, lobbyists, lawyers and lowly journalists has been the Tennessee Supreme Court's opinions page.
- Metro insiders visit the site daily — often multiple times each day — in hopes of finding out the Supreme Court's final ruling on the long-running lawsuit over the size of the Metro Council.
Why it matters: Nashville is in a state of political anxiety. Less than one year before Metro elections, voters have no idea how many council seats will comprise Nashville's legislative body.
- Will it be 40 council members, as it's always been since the Metro government formed; or will it be reduced to no more than 20, as Republican lawmakers mandated with a law they passed in 2023?
State of play: The Supreme Court is taking its time. The most recent update came in June when the justices asked both sides of the lawsuit to file briefs answering a rather wonky legal question.
- In the midst of the ongoing legal dispute, the legislature passed a technical correction to the 2023 law, which effectively kneecapped a major portion of Metro's argument.
Catch up quick: The battle over Metro Council's size started in 2023, when, amid a political divide between Nashville and Tennessee lawmakers, GOP politicians pushed for the city to submit an application to host the Republican National Convention in 2024.
- Metro Council balked and the RNC bid fizzled out, leaving Republican leaders incensed.
- In the next legislative session, Republican lawmakers passed a slate of laws targeting Metro. State Rep. William Lamberth led the charge to pass a law limiting the size of Metro and city councils. Lamberth said in 2023 he was interested in the policy before the RNC issue arose.
- Metro sued to block the law, and won a lower court ruling, before the state won on appeal. Metro argues an existing provision in the state constitution prevents the law from taking effect.
Friction point: That triggered an appeal by Metro to the state Supreme Court. The two sides argued the matter in February.
- Conventional wisdom at the time was that a ruling would come in the spring. Instead, the issue went quiet until the court requested those updated briefings in June.
- Now we're back to refreshing the website on a regular basis. The ruling could come at any moment, but the Supreme Court is not on a deadline to decide the case.
The intrigue: In the meantime, would-be council candidates are in a state of limbo. They don't know whether to run for a district office representing a neighborhood on the council or an at-large seat representing the entire county.
- If Metro loses and the council size is capped at 20, the city will have to decide how many at-large seats and draw new district boundaries.
- It will create unprecedented political upheaval at least. There's already a train of thought among insiders that there isn't enough time to reconfigure the council and draw a new council map before the August 2027 election.
The bottom line: Either the Supreme Court will side with Metro and the council will stay at 40, or it will side with the Republican-led state government and Nashville will be in for a significant political overhaul.
- All we can do in the meantime is hit refresh.