This article is from Tennessee Lookout
A Davidson County chancellor on Monday temporarily blocked Gov. Bill Lee from continuing to deploy the Tennessee National Guard in Memphis.
Members of the Guard have been patrolling the streets of Memphis since October under a directive from Lee, as part of a task force convened by the Trump administration in September. How many Guard personnel are currently stationed in Memphis is unclear: Memphis Police said last week there were fewer than 200, but that number would soon double. Recent court filings indicated more than 700 are currently in Memphis.
The Memphis Safe Task Force is composed of hundreds of state and federal law enforcement officers working in conjunction with local law enforcement. Monday’s order does not impact the presence of these officers.
The order issued by Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal states that the plaintiffs “have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the Governor’s actions in calling the National Guard into the active service of the state to support the Memphis Safe Task Force violate the terms and conditions of Tennessee’s Military Code.”
“The power committed to the Governor as commander-in-chief of the Army and the Militia is not unfettered,” Moskal wrote. “The Tennessee Constitution and the Military Code establish conditions for calling the National Guard into active service and limit the Governor’s power and authority.”
The order comes as Moskal considers a lawsuit seeking to permanently remove the Guard from Memphis. The lawsuit was filed Oct. 17 by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Reps. G.A. Hardaway and Gabby Salinas, state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, Shelby County Commissioners Erika Sugarmon and Henri E. Brooks, and Memphis Councilmember J.B. Smiley, Jr.
The injunction blocking the Guard’s deployment will go into effect five days after the plaintiffs post a $50,000 bond, if the defendants, including Lee, do not file an application for permission to appeal within that period. Lawyers representing the state had requested an $8 million bond.
The lawsuit argues that the Tennessee Constitution allows the Guard to be deployed only in “circumstances amounting to a rebellion or invasion,” and “even then, the legislature must declare, by law, that the public safety requires it.”
Attorneys representing Lee and the state contend that deploying the Guard falls within the governor’s authority and that the judiciary has no oversight on the executive decision.
Moskal pointed out in her ruling that the governor did not make an official order but issued a press release about the deployment after President Donald Trump signed a memo. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sent Lee a letter saying Guard members would be funded to stay in Memphis through September 2026.
Yet the Tennessee legislature never voted to send Guard personnel to Memphis, as required by law, and Shelby County leaders didn’t request the deployment.
“This ruling is a powerful affirmation that no one — not a president, not a governor — is above the law,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit law firm representing the plaintiffs. “When leaders use military force to intimidate rather than to protect, they threaten both our safety and our democracy. (Monday’s) decision restores the rule of law in Tennessee and sends a clear message that our service members will not be used as political props.”
The Lookout is seeking comment from the Tennessee Attorney General, who represents the state.
_ Cassandra Stephenson and Anita Whadwani
Sam Stockard contributed reporting.
