Tennessee Judges Signal Swift Ruling in Congressional Redistricting Lawsuit, Pappert Says

Kaitlin Housler
Tom Pappert

A three-judge Tennessee panel is expected to issue a rapid decision in the lawsuit challenging the state’s newly approved congressional districts, The Tennessee Star’s lead reporter, Tom Pappert, detailed during Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.

The lawsuit, filed by the Tennessee Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its president Gloria Sweet-Love, argues lawmakers exceeded the authority granted by Governor Bill Lee during the recent special legislative session by modifying state law governing redistricting timelines.

“The arguments are that when Governor Bill Lee called the special legislative session to redraw the districts, he did not give the lawmakers sufficient authority to go ahead and revise the law that said you can only redistrict once per decade after a census,” Pappert explained. “So this is a quite arcane legal argument in my estimation.”

The case was assigned to a three-judge panel under Tennessee’s recently enacted law requiring constitutional challenges to state statutes to be heard by judges from multiple regions of the state. The panel includes Judge James Gass of Sevierville, Chancellor Anne Martin of Nashville, and Chancellor Tony Childress of Dyersburg.

According to Pappert, the judges indicated during Wednesday’s hearing that litigants should expect a written ruling quickly.

“Yesterday, we had the first meeting and what may be the last hearing between the panel of judges, the pro side and the anti side, and the judges said to expect a quick decision,” Pappert said.

With Tennessee’s primary elections approaching in August, Pappert suggested the compressed timeline may favor a swift resolution.

“If they intend to put out a decision before that, that gives them less than three months,” he said.

Pappert also pointed to arguments advanced by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti defending the legality of the legislature’s actions under the governor’s proclamation.

“The Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has argued, I think correctly, that when the governor wrote in his proclamation to effectuate these new districts for the 2026 midterm elections, that authorized the general assembly to do anything they deemed legally necessary,” Pappert said.

He added that the legislature’s actions aligned with the purpose of the special session.

“This is what was necessary to complete the governor’s proclamation, which was to have these new maps ready for November,” Pappert said.

Host Michael Patrick Leahy noted Tennessee’s long history of governors calling special sessions with broad legislative purposes, arguing there is “over 100 years of precedent” allowing lawmakers flexibility within those topics.

Pappert further suggested that the NAACP lawsuit may have been aimed in part at generating attention, as it was the first legal challenge filed after the maps took effect.

“I almost think in some ways it was about getting the headlines,” Pappert said.

He also highlighted that the NAACP later joined a separate federal lawsuit challenging the maps, alongside the League of Women Voters of Tennessee and several Memphis-based organizations.

Those federal cases have been consolidated before Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell, who previously denied requests for a temporary restraining order to block the new districts from taking effect.

Pappert said the federal court does not appear to be moving quickly.

“It does seem as though that judge is in no big hurry to get this addressed,” Pappert said.

Asked about the likelihood that any of the lawsuits could ultimately prevent the new districts from being used in the 2026 elections, Pappert estimated the chances were relatively low.

“These federal lawsuits especially, I would say maybe 10 to 15 percent chance,” Pappert said. “I would say maybe the state lawsuit had a little bit better of an odds, maybe 30 percent even, until yesterday when the judges said to expect a quick decision.”

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.

 

 

 

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