(The Center Square) – A group of state and local lawmakers who sued Gov. Bill Lee over the National Guard deployment in Memphis does not have the standing to sue, the Tennessee Court of Appeals said Tuesday.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Memphis City Councilmember J.B. Smiley Jr., Shelby County Commissioners Henri E. Brooks and Erika Sugarmon, and state Reps. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, Gabby Salinas, D-Memphis, and Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, sued over the deployment in October 2025. A Davidson County chancellor issued a temporary injunction in November, but allowed the guard to remain in place while the state appealed the decision.
The three-member panel said its ruling doesn’t mean that no one has standing.
“Six of the seven plaintiffs in this action are legislators who are endeavoring to assert legislative institutional injuries on behalf of legislative bodies that have not authorized them to do so,” the court said. “The final plaintiff is a county mayor who does not purport to have authority to bring suit on behalf of the county while his purported injuries are primarily those suffered not by him or his office but instead by the county itself.”
Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, who is not one of the plaintiffs, called it an interesting development.
“I think they are saying you have to find an aggrieved party, which to me could be especially because it relates specifically to Memphis, it could be a resident in Memphis and Shelby County,” Akbari said in an interview with The Center Square. “I’m curious because the elected officials that are part of this lawsuit not just in their official capacity, but also they live in the area, so I don’t know if it’s someone that has specifically had an interaction, but that certainly is an interesting development.”
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called the ruling a “major victory for public safety in Memphis.”
“The Tennessee Court of Appeals has upheld a fundamental principle: policy disagreements belong at the ballot box, not in the courtroom,” Skrmetti said in a social media post. “This ruling ensures the Tennessee National Guard can continue its vital support of the Memphis Safe Task Force in the fight against violent crime.”
