(The Center Square) – A Tennessee state senator is challenging the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis, citing a 2021 opinion from the state attorney general’s office he said was withdrawn by the office.
Deploying the National Guard for police missions is likely unconstitutional according to the opinion provided by Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville. The opinion was requested in 2021 by Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnston City, and is no longer on the attorney general’s website, Yarbro said.
Yarbro also said a 2024 opinion by Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti was recently revised to reverse the state’s position. He sent a letter to Skrmetti asking for clarification, requesting that the 2021 and 2024 opinions be restored.
“In short, only circumstances amounting to a rebellion or invasion permit the governor to call out the militia, and even then, the Legislature must declare, by law, that the public safety requires it,” Yarbro said in a release. “We either have the rule of law or we don’t. When politicians decide some sections of the Constitution don’t matter, no one’s liberties are safe.”
Skrmetti wrote in an email to The Center Square that opinions from his office are not legally binding and were revised and withdrawn because they did not “accurately reflect the state of the law.”
“The incorrect reasoning in the withdrawn opinion No. 21-05, which these legislators would like to rely on, would ban the National Guard from helping with disaster relief efforts in Tennessee,” Skrmetti said. “If the folks at the press conference are insinuating my office withdrew these opinions six months before the election to pave the way for Trump policies a year and a half later, they have bigger problems than this legal question. If I could see the future like that, I’d be neck deep in Bitcoin and Pokémon cards.”
Gov. Bill Lee said at a news conference on Friday that 13 federal agencies would begin working on a crime reduction strategy this week. The plan includes the National Guard playing a “critical support role.” Guard members will not have arrest powers or carry weapons, unless Memphis police approve it, Lee said.
“It will begin a phased operational approach,” Lee said. “It will happen over the next weeks and months and most importantly this will be a sustained effort.”
President Donald Trump signed an order deploying the National Guard to Memphis on Sept. 15.
“This team will deploy the full powers of federal law enforcement agencies … to restore public safety and get dangerous career criminals off our streets,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “In 2024, Memphis had the highest violent crime rate, the highest property crime rate, and the third highest murder rate of any city in the nation.”
Memphis Mayor Paul Jones said crime decreased in Memphis in 2024 and numbers will likely show another decrease in 2025.
“But the reality is still the reality,” Young said last week. “Crime still exists. I never said crime was over.”
