(The Center Square) – Tennessee state Sen. Brent Taylor said he doesn’t expect a lawsuit filed by Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, which challenges two state laws, to go anywhere.
The Memphis Republican, running for Congress in one of the three newly-drawn districts that include Memphis, sponsored Senate Bills 443 and 1467.
Senate Bill 443 would allow the state to audit charges brought by Mulroy regarding the Memphis Safe Streets Task Force, a collaboration between state, federal and local agencies that includes the National Guard. Senate Bill 1467 requires Mulroy’s office to file reports with the General Assembly on dismissed or settled cases involving the Task Force every 10 days.
“All we said in this law is that if you’re going to exercise your discretion and not prosecute, you just have to let the U.S. attorney know so that if there is a federal nexus, then the U.S. attorney can then pick that case up and prosecute if federally,” Taylor said in an interview with The Center Square.
Mulroy called the reporting requirement “busywork” that would take his staff away from real law enforcement work.
“Our constitution and decades of state Supreme Court precedent make clear that a locally elected DA has wide discretion in how to handle cases, free from interference, and only a locally elected judge can appoint a replacement DA if the elected DA becomes unavailable,” Mulroy said in a statement.
Mulroy is asking the Shelby County Chancery Court to deem the bills unconstitutional.
Taylor said in his view, the lawsuit won’t get very far because district attorneys are actually state prosecutors.
“The constitution refers to him as a state attorney and state attorneys cannot sue the state,” Taylor said. “So we believe the case will be tossed out for standing because he cannot sue the state because he is the state.”
Taylor has often referred to Mulroy as the state’s only “Soros-funded” district attorney, referring to philanthropist George Soros. Soros is known for funding liberal candidates.
“I have pushed back, and I have fought against him since I have been in the Senate and we won with this accountability act where he finally, now, just like a fifth grader doing their math homework, he has to show his work,” Taylor said.
A three-judge civil panel will be assigned to the case, according to online Chancery Court records.
Others have criticized and challenged the National Guard’s presence in Memphis that began last year through an agreement with President Donald Trump and the state.
The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the state’s “Halo Law,” which requires the public to remain 25 feet away from law enforcement officers making an arrest or investigating an incident. The organization filed a federal lawsuit on May 12, saying members of the Safe Streets Task Force are violating the First Amendment rights of some Memphis residents.
On Thursday, the organization asked for a federal injunction to stop what it called “retaliation” against citizens who record and observe law enforcement.
“No one should have their personal safety or privacy compromised simply for bringing to light what Task Force agents are doing on the streets of Memphis,” said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.
A group of lawmakers and citizens challenging the National Guard’s deployment lost a court battle on April 28 when the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled against them.
Taylor said the numbers show the Task Force has made Memphis safer.
“Murder is down 41%, aggravated assault is down 33%, motor vehicle theft is down 65%,” Taylor said. “There have been north of 10,000 arrests made as a result of the Memphis Safe Task Force. And 75% of those will be heard in state court, even though it was part of the federal task force that President Trump sent to Memphis.”
