Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer in-studio to discuss the issue of redistricting in the Tennessee State House and Senate.
Leahy: We are joined in studio by a very good friend, all-star panelist, recovering journalist, currently a public affairs specialist, Mr. Clint Brewer. Good morning, Clint.
Brewer: Good morning, Mike.
Leahy: Well, we were listening to the news there, and there is a court decision has been made on the issue of the redistricting of the state legislature, particularly in the state Senate. Now, just to remind you, this is not a court decision related to the congressional redistricting.
As far as I can tell I don’t think there’s going to be, it doesn’t look like there will be any challenge to the U.S. House redistricting.
Brewer: State House.
Leahy: Well, the U.S. House is going to be no challenge to the U.S. House. But we’ll come back, because eyes kind of glaze over. If there’s a challenge to the U.S. House, it would have to go into the federal district court. Hasn’t happened yet. Is there a timeline by which they would file anything there?
Brewer: We’ve got two things happening in tandem. There’s a redistricting plan for these congressional seats. There’s a redistricting plan for the state Senate and redistricting plan for the state House.
Leahy: So we got three things going on. They’re not just plans, they’re laws that have been put in effect. To challenge the district for the U.S. House of Representatives, you’d have to go to federal court. Probably not state court, I would think.
Brewer: One would think.
Leahy: Yeah, one would think. But there’s no challenge been raised. And then the incumbent, Jim Cooper, Democrat, who’s an attorney, Rhodes scholar, reviewed that plan and said he doesn’t think he has a case.
He’s not challenged. It’s unlikely to be challenged. I think if a challenge were to be made, it would have to be made before April 21st, because that’s the deadline for the Secretary of State to print ballots.
Brewer: Right. But the state Senate deadline has already been pushed back.
Leahy: Now let’s go back.
Brewer: It’s hard to say.
Leahy: Well, hold on. Let’s talk about that a little bit. When you say there’s what the Secretary of State does, which is to set the ballot on April 21st.
Now back to this recent decision, yesterday, I guess, a panel of state court judges have said, we’ve looked at the state Senate redistricting, and there’s a part of the Tennessee Constitution that it violates, and it has to do with the numbering of the districts and being adjacent within the county.
Your eyes kind of glaze over when you hear it, but they’ve sent it back to the Tennessee General Assembly. And said you’ve got 15 days to fix it.
Brewer: That’s right.
Leahy: And if you don’t fix it, we’ll fix it.
Brewer: The issue is the districts in Davidson County. So the very Byzantine, sort of obscure rule is, law is – and it’s in the Constitution – if seats are in a single county, meaning that if you have multiple seats in a county, they have to be numbered sequentially.
And the point there is even an odd number or seats are staggered, in terms of when they run. So they don’t want any one county to have mass turnover.
Leahy: There are 33 state Senate districts. Half of them, I guess, 16, will be this year, and then another 17 will be next year. It’s a four-year term. So they’re staggered.
Brewer: It’ll be the next cycle.
Leahy: Right. The next cycle. Exactly. So it seems to me actually I’ve looked at that map and I think the courts probably have a good point here in terms of what the state Constitution says.
Brewer: Right. But what’s interesting to me is all these laws and Senate majority leader Senator Johnson, he made a good point, which is, well, this has been ignored in the past when Democrats controlled redistricting. Because it’s been in the Constitution for a long time.
Leahy: Democrats ignored it. And it is a very, I don’t know what you say, it’s a little bit obscure, but it’s in the Constitution.
Brewer: I mean, you only look at it every 10 years. But what’s interesting to me, and we can get back to it in the next segment possibly, is what is the Republican party going to do with Nashville?
Because I mean, you’ve seen a piece of it broken off and putting it into the 5th Congressional District but now you’re seeing a piece of it broken off and put it to Mark Pody, Senate, 17th district.
Leahy: Wilson County. Yeah.
Brewer: Yes. What do you do with Davidson?
Leahy: There’s a way to figure it out.
Brewer: And it’s causing some consternation. Yeah.
Leahy: Because it’ll have impact on incumbents.
Brewer: It will, that’s that’s the key. I don’t think they necessarily want a piece of Davidson.
Leahy: I think you’re right.
Listen to the interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
