Author: Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout

Early Voting Drops Statewide as Davidson, Shelby See Major Declines

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date November 4, 2024

More than 2.2 million Tennesseans cast ballots during early voting over the past two weeks as turnout nearly reached 46 percent, nearly 3 percent fewer than the 2020 presidential election total.

Early voting in person totaled 2,132,610, and 82,253 were cast by mail, for a total of 2,214,870 through Oct. 31st, the final day of early voting, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Though some involved in the presidential election are calling it the most important one in this era, early voting numbers don’t quite match that view, falling 2.89 percent. Tennessee typically sees about half of voters go to the polls early.

Early voting turnout in the 2020 presidential election between current President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who was the incumbent at the time, hit 2,280,767, nearly 66,000 more than cast ballots so far in this year’s election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump.

Both early voting totals, though, are much higher than in 2016 when 1.67 million Tennesseans cast ballots early as Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State’s figures show.

Enthusiasm across Tennessee through the 14 days of early voting was evident, as Tennessee saw more than 2.13 million registered voters cast their ballots in person — a new record.
– Doug Kufner, Tennessee Secretary of State’s office

Among the state’s biggest counties, Davidson, typically a stronghold for Democrats, showed a major decline in early voting from four years ago, dropping off 13.3 percent as 219,411 cast ballots early compared to 253,123 in 2020.

Davidson County Elections Administrator Jeff Roberts said the difference could be that 34,000 people voted by absentee ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 compared to 13,000 this year, a difference of 21,000. All of those are counted as mail-in ballots.

Absentee balloting fell off by nearly 61 percent this fall to 82,253 from 210,428 in 2020 when many voters were afraid to go to the polls and risk catching COVID-19. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state to give voters more exceptions to vote absentee four years ago.

Davidson County was split into three congressional districts before the 2022 vote, a move that gave Republicans an advantage in winning all three seats and forced longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper to step away from Congress.

Early voting in Shelby County, another focal point for Democrats, fell off even more dramatically, dropping by 20.9 percent to 257,733 this fall from 326,007 in 2020. Shelby County’s decrease of 68,274 early voters topped the total state decline of 65,900.

Hamilton County, in contrast, saw a 13.2 percent increase with 117,254 casting ballots early compared to 103,590 four years ago.

Knox County reported a small decrease, down .61 percent to 170,736 from 171,790 in 2020.

Rutherford County also reported a 2.7 percent decrease in early voting, dipping to 117,040 from 120,281 four years ago. In addition, Williamson County dipped .57 percent, from 122,277 in 2020 to 121,585 this year.

Secretary of State spokesperson Doug Kufner said early voting ran well because of the work of county election commission staff and poll workers statewide.

“Enthusiasm across Tennessee through the 14 days of early voting was evident, as Tennessee saw more than 2.13 million registered voters cast their ballots in person — a new record. Seventy-six counties also exceeded their in-person early voting turnout from 2020. We anticipate a robust Election Day turnout, and we encourage all registered Tennesseans who have not yet voted to make their voice heard on Nov. 5,” Kufner said in a statement.

In spite of disruptions from Hurricane Helene, most of the counties that suffered from massive flooding reported early voting increases. In some instances, election officials in those counties had to change voting sites because of flood damage and road outages.

Greene County, for instance, experienced an early voting increase of 30.4 percent with 19,851 casting ballots this year, compared to 15,220 in 2020.

Carter County saw early voting increase by 21.2 percent with 14,753 participating this year compared to 12,169 four years ago.

Washington County experienced a 6.8 percent jump in early voting totals, going to 45,825 from 42,909.

Johnson County saw a small increase of 1.92 percent as early voting went up to 5,474 from 5,371 in 2020. Cocke County also saw a bit of an increase with early voting jumping 3.3 percent, to 10,670 from 10,325 in 2020.

Unicoi County saw a slight decline of 1.73 percent to 6,067 this year from 6,174 four years ago.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.

Tags early voting, election 2024, Memphis

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Investigation Urged on State Sen. Brent Taylor’s Online Posts

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date August 29, 2024

State Senator Brent Taylor (R) Memphis district 31 Shelby County, during the 113th general Assembly | Photograph by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

A West Tennessee prosecutor has requested a state investigation into a Memphis senator for allegedly breaking state law by posting documents online containing a defendant’s personal information, possibly after obtaining it from the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office.

District Attorney General Fred Agee confirmed to the Tennessee Lookout he filed a complaint with the Comptroller’s Office and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, asking them to investigate whether Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) put information on X showing a man’s birth date and Social Security number, which would be a Class B misdemeanor accompanied by nearly six months in jail.

Agee, a Republican whose prosecutorial district covers Crockett, Haywood, and Gibson counties, requested the appointment of a pro tem prosecutor to look into the matter. He said the items were posted online for at least 10 hours.

“With all the identity theft that goes on daily, I felt I had a duty to report it and to also ask for a special prosecutor since [Taylor’s] social media post was directed toward me,” Agee told the Lookout.

Taylor responded to questions by text message Tuesday, saying he posted the public record “for the benefit” of constituents and West Tennesseans to show an example of “outrageous plea deals” Agee reaches. He reiterated his claim that Agee and Mulroy are “soft on crime.”

“When I discovered one of the dozens of documents, that have been passed around more than a joint at a Willie Nelson concert, may have possibly contained a Social Security number, I quickly replaced them with newly redacted documents out of an abundance of caution,” Taylor said.

As part of the investigation request, Agee said he asked the state’s investigative agencies to see whether the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office gave the information to Taylor. Separately, Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas has been indicted in connection with directing inmate labor to an outside company he owned as part of a $1.4 million scheme.

The situation stems, in part, from an op-ed Agee wrote Aug. 6 for The Daily Memphian supporting Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy, a Democrat accused of being soft on crime and threatened with an ouster by Taylor and House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville). Taylor has said he will file legislation to have Mulroy removed from office during next year’s legislative session.

Taylor posted documents within the last two weeks to paint Agee as a liberal prosecutor by detailing a plea agreement Agee’s office made with Brewston Lamonte Cole, who has been convicted of multiple DUIs, drug possession, firearms possession, violation of the sex offender registry, and violation of probation. Cole was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but that was suspended for probation or supervision by Community Corrections. He had served nearly four months in jail already after having his bond revoked and will receive a harsher sentence if he doesn’t comply with probation requirements.

As part of that post, Taylor put up three Google Drive links containing the plea agreement document that listed Cole’s birthday and Social Security number. The Lookout has obtained screenshots of Taylor posts and those links, which have since been removed, and the documents reposted without the personal information.

The state Comptroller’s Office declined to confirm it has been requested to investigate the matter.

Tags Brent Taylor, Fred Agee, Memphis, Steve Mulroy

Politics Politics Feature

Inside the Republican Move to Block Memphis Taxes Over Guns

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date August 27, 2024

Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, holding sign, gestures to House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, on the left and pictured from the rear, while Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, turns to the camera on August 29, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Tennessee’s House and Senate speakers are threatening to punish Memphis by cutting its share of sales tax revenue — more than $75 million — if the city puts referendums on the November ballot restricting weapons, a move likely to force Memphis to sue the state.

Continuing a feud with the Democratic-controlled Bluff City, Republican leaders House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), announced Monday in a news release the legislature “will not tolerate any attempts to go rogue and perform political sideshows.” Their statement says they plan to withhold state shared sales tax to any local government that tries to circumvent state laws.

The speakers’ move comes in response to referendums set for Memphis’ November ballot asking voters whether they approve amendments to the city charter requiring a handgun permit, restrictions on gun storage in cars, an assault weapons ban after Jan. 1, and authority to enact extreme risk protections orders often referred to as red flag laws.

Following the Republican leaders statements, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said his office won’t allow the referendums, all but guaranteeing a lawsuit, according to multiple reports.

A Monday letter to Shelby County Commission Chairman Mark Luttrell from Tennessee Elections Administrator Mark Goins says state law preempts firearms regulation and extreme orders of protection from local ordinances and leaves “no authority” for the city of Memphis to propose charter amendments on them, thus any referendum would be “facially void and cannot be placed on the ballot.”

But Memphis City Council chairman JB Smiley said Monday, “We believe we’re right on the law.” If the council gives him the authority, he said he will instruct the city’s attorney to file for a declaratory judgment in Chancery Court to put the questions on the ballot.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton during the start of 2024 legislative session on January 9, 2024 in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Memphis City Councilman Jeff Warren, who sponsored the referendum resolutions, said he believes Sexton and McNally are confused on the issue, because the referendums would be “enabling” measures that couldn’t take effect without the approval from state lawmakers. Smiley agrees with Warren, saying the council would have to act on the referendums, too.

“What we’re hoping will happen is the state legislature will look at this and say, … ‘They’re trying to combat their violent crime by being able to do something about these people with these guns that don’t need them and are using them to commit crimes,” Warren said.

The local government would be able to enforce those resolutions only with state backing, he said.

Warren, a physician by trade, noted people in rural areas are more likely to need weapons to protect crops and livestock from varmints, but that the situation is different in urban areas such as Memphis, where people are “driving around in cars, doing donuts with AK-47s hanging out the car.”

Still, the House Speaker’s Office contends Memphis shouldn’t be trying to pass such measures if they don’t have the effect of law. It further believes they are a tactic to drive voter turnout in November, possibly affecting Republicans with marginal support such as Rep. John Gillespie (R-Memphis).

“With the recent actions of the progressive, soft-on-crime (district attorney) in Shelby County and the Memphis City Council’s continued efforts to override state law with local measures, we feel it has become necessary to take action and protect all Tennesseans’ rights and liberties. We hope they will change course immediately,” Sexton said in the statement.

McNally echoed the sentiment, saying, “The Tennessee Constitution clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of the state and local governments. Shelby County needs to understand that despite their hopes and wishes to the contrary, they are constrained by these explicit constitutional guardrails.”

The Republican-controlled legislature has declined to pass any such proposals the past two years despite a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville where six people, including three 9-year-olds, were killed in March 2023.

Memphis leaders say they’re searching for a solution to an “epidemic” of gun violence that escalated after the state’s General Assembly passed a permit-less handgun carry law.

Memphis Council member JB Smiley, Jr. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Memphis City Council chairman Smiley, co-sponsor of the referendums, said the legislature can’t legally withhold Memphis and Shelby County tax revenue.

Smiley contended “it’s anti-democratic if we don’t want to listen to the people,” and noted the council’s actions have not violated state law. He called the speakers’ statements “premature.”

“If they believe they’re within their right to withhold tax revenue that’s duly owed to the city of Memphis, we would like to see what the judges say,” Smiley said, predicting such action by the legislature would be found unconstitutional.

The state lost a handful of court battles with Nashville over the past two years after trying to control Davidson County’s sports, airport, and fairground authorities, in addition to cutting the number of Metro Council members from 40 to 20.

Republican state lawmakers have been at odds with Memphis Democrats for several years and passed a measure earlier this session turning back a Memphis ordinance designed to stop police from making “pretextual” traffic stops for minor violations that can lead to confrontations. The council approved that measure in response to the death of Tyre Nichols who died after being beaten by five Memphis police officers when he was stopped for reckless driving in January 2023.

In addition, Sexton and Republican Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) are trying to oust Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy, a Democrat, claiming he isn’t prosecuting criminal suspects effectively. Even so, the latest reports show the crime rate dropped in Memphis over the last year.

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) said the withholding of state tax dollars would lead to a lawsuit. Pearson was one of two lawmakers expelled from the legislature for leading a protest on the House floor for stricter gun laws in 2023 in response to The Covenant School shooting. The Shelby County Commission returned him to the General Assembly a week later.

Pearson contends Sexton and McNally “can’t help themselves but to unconstitutionally and anti-constitutionally reach into local governments’ matters.” The freshman lawmaker called their announcement “ridiculous, reckless and racist” and also referred to their actions as “tyrannical and authoritarian.”

He noted Sexton is now saying a “majority Black city can’t self-govern” after having him and Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville), both young Black men, expelled from the state General Assembly.

Pearson pointed out the nation was founded on the concept of “no taxation without representation” but that the speakers want to take Memphis’ state shared tax dollars because of the possibility that city voters could disagree with them about gun laws.

Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) accused Republican lawmakers of “dismantling” gun laws and allowing weapons to “flood” the state while “turning a blind eye” to the impact on families and neighborhoods. Under Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s leadership, the legislature passed a permit-less handgun carry law, and the age was lowered to 18 as the result of a settlement between the state attorney general and a group that sued the state.

Gunshot wounds are now the leading cause of death for Tennessee children, she said.

“The ballot reforms being considered by Memphis voters are common-sense measures designed to curb this epidemic of violence,” Lamar said. “Our community is crying out for solutions, and instead of being met with support, we’re facing intimidation from state politicians who should be our partners in ensuring safety and justice.”

House Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis) also blasted the speakers’ move, pointing out Shelby County generated $2 billion in sales tax revenue last year.

“To suggest that these vital funds could be withheld over a local decision aimed at ensuring public safety is shortsighted and counterproductive,” she said in a letter to McNally and Sexton.

Tags Cameron Sexton, gun legislation, JB Smiley, Justin Pearson, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally

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Lawmakers Irked For State Failure On Gun Safe Storage Campaign

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date July 16, 2024

Tennessee lawmakers express frustration the state Department of Safety is failing to follow through with gun-safety ads for which the legislature approved funding. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht)

Tennessee’s Department of Safety is failing to follow through on a $1.6 million campaign for safe gun storage in vehicles, despite a major increase in weapon thefts from cars and trucks, lawmakers say.

Lawmakers approved the funding in an August 2023 special session on public safety for a firearms public awareness drive that was supposed to target vehicle break-ins. Gov. Bill Lee called lawmakers into that special session but was unable to pass any consequential gun-related bills in response to the Covenant School shooting in which six people were killed, including three children.

Since then, the Department of Safety has produced a weapon safe-storage commercial for homes but nothing dealing with vehicles, where lawmakers say the problem is the worst.

The state’s public service spot shows a man overseeing his son using a shotgun to fire at aluminum cans. Meanwhile, in the house, the man’s daughter pulls a rifle from a closet and appears to be on the verge of firing it, before the video shows the rifle is equipped with a safety lock designed to keep children from loading it and pulling the trigger.

Rep. Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville) supports that commercial but is “frustrated” with the state’s refusal to target safe gun storage in vehicles. Hemmer and Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) ran into opposition from Republicans when they sponsored a bill requiring, then encouraging, people to lock weapons in vehicles.

“We have this problem, and we put money to deal with it and they’re only dealing with 10 percent of the problem, not 90 percent of it,” Hemmer says.

He notes the department is not even “thinking about addressing it,” after public and private “prodding.”

Critics of Tennessee’s gun law argue that weapon thefts from vehicles increase dramatically after the Legislature passed the permit-less carry law five years ago. State law, based on the Attorney General’s interpretation of a court decision, now allows people 18 and above to carry without a permit. Yet they are not allowed to take their weapons into many businesses and leave them in vehicles unsecured.

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake circulated statistics immediately after the Covenant School shooting in 2023 showing vehicle thefts jumped to 1,378 in Nashville in 2022 from 848 in 2019 and to 2,740 in Memphis from 1,159 in the same time frame.

I’m very adamant that we need to inform the public that when you get out of your vehicle you have it safely stored if you can’t take it with you.
– Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis

The state’s two largest urban areas saw a downtick last year. Metro Nashville reported 984 weapons stolen from cars in 2023, while Shelby had 2,113, according to information from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Many weapons are stolen from vehicles by teens and wind up being used in violent crimes, such as the 9mm pistol juveniles pulled on a Belmont graduate and musician Kyle Yorlets when he was shot to death in February 2019.

Republican state Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis), who carried the measure for a safe storage campaign in the 2023 special session, said Monday he had spoken with Hemmer and the Department of Safety and plans to keep pushing the message.

“I’m very adamant that we need to inform the public that when you get out of your vehicle you have it safely stored if you can’t take it with you,” White says.

White, whose efforts to pass safe gun storage laws failed several times, says the Department of Safety told him it was just starting to get “ramped up” on the safe gun storage campaign.

Safety Department spokesman Wes Moster did not respond to Tennessee Lookout questions about the public service spots and why they don’t deal with vehicles.

Instead, he said there has been “no delay” in the advertisements, which are being distributed statewide across radio, television and movie theaters. In addition, spots on streaming services, social media, newspapers and billboards will be sent out this summer.

“The department will strategically determine whether additional advertisements will be made,” Moster said in an email response to Lookout questions.

Tags Bill Lee, guns, guns stolen from cars, Mark White, Memphis, Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security

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Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Backs Mulroy Ouster

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date June 18, 2024

Steven J. Mulroy is the District Attorney for Shelby County, Tennessee July 25, 2023. (© Karen Pulfer Focht/Tennessee Lookout)

Tennessee’s lieutenant governor is backing a Memphis state senator’s move to force the ouster of Shelby County’s prosecutor for “dereliction of duty” in connection with felons caught carrying weapons.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) issued a statement Monday saying he “wholeheartedly” supports efforts by Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) to dismiss Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy from office for “failing to properly prosecute convicted felons in possession of a firearm.”

Taylor sent McNally a letter Monday notifying him he plans to file a Senate resolution after the November election to remove Mulroy from office. The district attorney general said recently he plans to adopt a policy allowing non-violent felons to avoid being prosecuted for possession of weapons.

McNally said Mulroy’s “explicit refusal to prosecute criminals with guns is inexcusable and unconstitutional. While district attorneys have prosecutorial discretion, that discretion is not a license to override or subvert the law of the land. DA Mulroy’s record of refusal to prosecute laws he does not personally care for is longstanding and clear. I believe it is time for him to go.”

State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) during the 113th general Assembly Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

Even though district attorneys general are elected by a county’s voters, the Legislature can oust them with a two-thirds vote, according to a state law cited by Taylor in his letter.

Taylor and House Speaker Cameron Sexton made social media posts last week calling Mulroy soft on crime for his new policy to provide “diversion” from conviction for non-violent felons caught carrying weapons.

Mulroy, a Democrat serving his first term after defeating Republican Amy Weirich, told the Tennessee Lookout last week the DA’s Office continues to prosecute illegal gun possession cases, including possession of a gun connected to drug crimes and possession of a Glock switch, which makes those types of handguns fully automatic. His office did not respond to questions Monday.

The district attorney, though, noted his office is “open to offering a diversion track, on a case-by-case basis for those defendants who have no history of violence or significant criminal history and seem reformable.”

Those types of offenders would be prosecuted but could avoid conviction by meeting “stringent requirements” for rehabilitation, he said. The policy is designed to free up prosecutors to focus on offenders who “use a weapon,” he said.

Taylor acknowledged Monday that district attorneys general have “prosecutorial discretion” but contended that state law prohibits felons from possessing weapons and argued if Mulroy thinks non-violent felons should be excluded, then he should lobby the Legislature to change the law. He denied that his effort to remove Mulroy is a political move and maintained that the district attorney has “abused his prosecutorial discretion.”

It looks like every local official is now on notice not to cross powerful state politicians – or else. Memphians are sick and tired of seeing their local elected officials run over by state politics just for doing the job they promised to do.
Sens. Raumesh Akbari and London Lamar, Memphis Democrats, in a statement

“He’s attempting to enforce and prosecute the law based on how he wishes it were written, not how it’s actually written,” Taylor said. “District attorneys are obligated to enforce the law the legislature enacts.”

Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) and Minority Chairman London Lamar (D-Memphis) issued a statement in response calling Taylor’s effort an “unconstitutional attack” on Shelby County’s district attorney and saying it “sets a dangerous precedent.”

“It looks like every local official is now on notice not to cross powerful state politicians – or else,” they said. “Memphians are sick and tired of seeing their local elected officials run over by state politics just for doing the job they promised to do.”

They contend crime didn’t start with Mulroy’s election and said, “it’s beneath the Legislature to threaten local officials over a policy debate.”

Sen. Taylor and state Rep. John Gillespie (R-Memphis) passed legislation this year overturning a Memphis City Council ordinance stopping police from making “pretextual” stops such as driving with broken tail light. The measure was designed to prevent violent incidents between police and motorists such as the death of Tyre Nichols who was pulled over for reckless driving and beaten by five police officers, according to video of the stop.

Tags Brent Taylor, DA Steve Mulroy, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, Memphis, Tennessee General Assembly

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Blackburn Pledges to Block Senate Business in Wake of Trump Conviction

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date June 4, 2024

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is pledging to block Senate business, mainly items dealing with White House initiatives. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Blaming President Joe Biden for the 34-count felony conviction of former President Donald Trump, Sen. Marsha Blackburn is pledging to block Senate business, mainly items dealing with White House initiatives.

Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, joined seven other senators in signing a letter accusing the Biden White House of making a “mockery of the rule of law” and altering the nation’s politics in “un-American ways” by orchestrating the judicial proceeding.

Trump was convicted last week on 34 felony counts of breaking New York business laws in connection with a $130,000 “hush money” payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.“As a Senate Republican conference, we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart,” the letter says. It is also signed by Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.

The senators promised not to allow increases in non-security funding or a spending bill that funds “partisan lawfare.” They also said they would block political and judicial appointments as well as attempts to expedite Democratic bills unrelated to the American people’s safety.

Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, who is running against Blackburn this year, said Monday the pledge is “beneath the dignity” of a U.S. senator.

Tags Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Marsha Blackburn, Memphis, Stormy Daniels

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Transgender Lawsuit Continues After Judges’ Partial Ruling

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date May 14, 2024

A challenge of Tennessee’s law dealing with the use of public school restrooms and locker rooms by transgender students remains alive after a federal judge declined to dismiss all claims against the state education department and Williamson County Schools.

U.S. District Court Judge William Campbell denied the state’s request in to dismiss the child’s claim of a violation of rights under the Equal Protection Clause.

The judge, however, granted a request to dismiss the child’s claim that her Title IX rights were violated. The ruling notes that because the federal law allows schools to maintain separate restrooms for “the different sexes,” requiring the child to use the restroom based on her biological sex doesn’t violate Title IX.

The judge also dismissed the child’s request to correct all records to reflect her female gender.

Tennessee lawmakers have taken steps in recent years to prevent transgender athletes from playing sports based on their sexual identity. The Legislature enacted restrictions in 2023 on transgender medical treatment and this year adopted a bill preventing adults other than parents and guardians from taking children outside the state for transgender care.

Senate passes two bills aimed at transgender athletes
Tennessee Lookout

The case against the Tennessee Department of Education and Williamson County Schools involves a 9-year-old transgender child who was male at birth but identifies as female, according to court filings. The child uses “she/her” pronouns and lives socially as a girl by wearing her hair long and dressing in a manner usually associated with girls.

The complaint was brought by a friend and the child’s parents when the child was 8, claiming the Williamson County elementary school she attends requires her to use a single-occupancy restroom, not the multi-use girls’ restroom.

The child claims the school’s “insistence” that she use a separate restroom “isolates her and distinguishes her from her classmates and exacerbates the stress and anxiety she experiences while trying to fit in and avoid being stigmatized on the basis of her sex and gender identity.” The child also claims the restroom designated for her has problems with distance from her class, safety and cleanliness.

The Tennessee Legislature passed the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act in May 2021, requiring public schools to provide a “reasonable accommodation” to students, teachers and employees who want “greater privacy when using a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility designated for [their] sex and located within a public school building.”

“Reasonable accommodations” include single-occupancy restrooms or changing facilities or use of an employee restroom or changing facility.

The “reasonable accommodations” don’t include restrooms or changing areas designated for use by members of the opposite sex while the opposite sex is present or could be present. They also don’t require remodeling or structurally changing a school facility, or limiting access to a restroom or changing room designated for use by members of the opposite sex if that creates a violation or state or local building codes.

The new state law defines sex as “a person’s immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.” It also provides students, parents, guardians, teachers and employees the right to sue public school systems for “psychological, emotional, and physical harm,” including monetary damages, legal fees and costs if they “encounter a member of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility located in a public school building … [and] the public school intentionally allowed a member of the opposite sex [defined as sex at birth] to enter the multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility while other persons were present.”

Campbell denied the child’s request for an injunction against the school district to stop it from enforcing the state law.

Yet the judge opted not to dismiss the child’s claims under the Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits a state from “denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” and prevents government discrimination that “either burdens a fundamental right, targets a suspect class or intentionally treats one differently than others similarly situated without any rational basis for the difference.”

The judge’s ruling points out that classifications by the government based on sex are recognized as “a quasi-suspect classification subject to intermediate scrutiny.”

DH v. Williamson Board of Education

Tags Memphis, Tennessee General Assembly, Tennessee Lookout, Title IX, Transgender bathroom legislation

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House Kills Anti-Reparations Bill

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date April 25, 2024

Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, addressing his bill to prohibit local governments from spending funds to study reparations. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The Tennessee House voted 52-43 Wednesday to defeat an anti-reparations bill despite the efforts by an East Tennessee House Republican to resurrect the measure.

Before introducing the bill, Republican Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge) circulated a letter to colleagues seeking their support in passing House Bill 474 to stop counties from looking into reparations and disbursing money to those whose family members were enslaved.

The measure passed in the Senate on a 26-6 vote but got hung up in the House. Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin) called for a vote to table Ragan’s legislation.

In response, Ragan told the chamber that people shouldn’t be forced to pay for the wrongdoing of their ancestors. He pointed out that all Japanese shouldn’t be blamed for the bombing of Pearl Harbor and all Muslims shouldn’t be held responsible for the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Ragan noted in the letter that state Sen. Brent Taylor of Memphis brought him the bill and said he will not back down from resistance. He also accused opponents of “blatant bullying and immoral tactics.”

“Frankly, two opposition caucus members have unashamedly engaged in such, hurling repugnant insults and racial slurs in the “People’s House” – apparently without penalty,” Ragan’s letter says. “Regrettably, other members of their caucus have failed to demonstrate the moral courage to oppose such a degradation of our state’s great institution. In fact, some have even supported these actions openly.”

Ragan also said the press, “always hungry for salacious sensationalism and manufactured controversy,” blew the matter out of proportion, causing some lawmakers to consider support of the bill a threat to their re-election.

Democratic Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin J. Pearson of Memphis have been outspoken foes of the bill.

Pearson said shortly before the Wednesday vote, “I am hopeful that this racist bill will be tabled.”

Ragan’s letter asks Republican colleagues to vote their conscience and notes, “It is a good and just bill that helps Tennessee and deserves a vote.”

Tags John Ragan, Memphis, reparations, Tennessee General Assembly

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“Chemtrail” Bill Described as “Nonsense”

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date March 26, 2024

Legislation designed to stop the potential release of climate-controlling chemicals into the atmosphere is scheduled to be considered in the House this week, a bill the Senate’s sponsor also relates to “chemtrails,” a conspiracy theory related to the lines of vapor coming from jet planes.

One environmental lobbyist called the measure “nonsense,” even though it passed the Senate last week 25-6.

Rep. Monty Fritts (R-Kingston) is taking the matter seriously and is slated to put House Bill 2063 before the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee Wednesday. He is not expected to try to amend the measure.

Fritts said Monday the bill deals only with “geoengineering” purportedly to be done by the federal government and noted he is not concerned about a connection with “chemtrail” conspiracy theories.

If you look at a thousand planes, you won’t see one (chemtrail). But then all of a sudden you see one. So we’re just asking the question: Are they putting anything in the air that could be toxic?
– Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown

The bill points out that the federal government and other entities acting at the government’s request are preparing to conduct experiments by dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere. It further notes the impact on human health and the environment from this type of “broad scale geoengineering” isn’t fully understood.

“Chemtrail” conspiracy theories have surfaced for decades. But this bill could be a reaction to a measure signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 instructing the Office of Science and Technology Policy to work with NASA on research of climate intervention.

An article in MIT Technology Review reports the crux of the federal plan is to release tiny particles into the atmosphere that, theoretically, could reflect enough sunlight to slow down the Earth’s warming. In other instances, groups could try to determine whether the release of particles might stop cirrus clouds from trapping heat against the Earth, according to a news report.

The bill, which would avert that in Tennessee, says “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited.”

Sen. Steve Southerland (R-Morristown), who initiated the legislation, didn’t mention “chemtrails” when he passed the bill on the Senate floor last week.

But when he spoke to the Tennessee Lookout previously, he made that part of his argument, pointing out that a space shuttle doesn’t leave a “chemtrail.” Likewise, he said, emissions at Watts Bar nuclear and Kingston fossil plants appear to be “pure steam,” in contrast to the “chemtrails” from some jets.

“If you look at a thousand planes, you won’t see one (chemtrail). But then all of a sudden you see one,” Sutherland said. “So we’re just asking the question: Are they putting anything in the air that could be toxic?”

Scott Banbury, a lobbyist with the Sierra Club, described the bill as more of a “laughing” matter than anything and said efforts in the legislature to undo wetlands protections are more important.

“It’s not happening,” Banbury said, adding he was uncertain how the bill got so much traction in committees. “It’s not gonna happen anytime soon. It’s nonsense.”

Numerous websites debunk the theories surrounding “chemtrails.”

David Keith’s Research Group with Harvard University describes “chemtrails” as a conspiracy theory that governments and other groups are running a secret program to add “visible plumes” containing toxic chemicals to the atmosphere, similar to contrails or vapor trails released by aircraft engine exhaust that are made up mainly of water in the form of ice crystals.

The group notes, “We have not seen any credible evidence that chemtrails exist,” but if researchers did find proof the government is endangering people it would be “eager to expose and stop any such activities.”

Banbury pointed out fear of “chemtrails” has been discussed for years, but he was uncertain how the federal government could conspire with enough people to send out toxic chemicals from jets without someone “blowing the whistle.”

Tags chemtrails, Memphis, Tennessee General Assembly, Tennessee Lookout

News News Blog News Feature

Stockard: Memphis Crime Bill Shocks

Post author By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Post date March 8, 2024

Promises, promises. This wouldn’t be the first time they’re broken.

Rep. John Gillespie (R-Bartlett) swore on the House floor Thursday he didn’t tell the family of slain motorist Tyre Nichols’ he would postpone a policing bill they oppose until next week when they could return to the Capitol. That claim brought an accusation from Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) that Gillespie lied to the family (and a subsequent rebuke that amounted to nothing).

Nichols’ parents, Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, also sent out a statement Thursday urging Senators to vote against the bill when it reaches the upper chamber and reiterated what Pearson said, that Gillespie told them not to visit Nashville because he didn’t plan to bring the bill to the floor.

The Wellses visited the legislature Monday lobbying against Gillespie’s bill, which would turn back a Memphis City Council ordinance designed to prevent police officers from making “pretextual” stops such as pulling over motorists for a bad tail light. The Wellses believe their son, Tyre, would be alive if such an ordinance had been in place in January 2023 when police stopped him and beat him (the incident is on video). He later died.

Gillespie responded by postponing the bill until Thursday and attaching an amendment — which is usually a no-no on the floor — making the bill apply only to “pretextual” stops. In other words, police would still make them in Memphis and statewide.

Several Memphis Democrats questioned whether he told the Wellses he would delay the bill until they could return to the Capitol, which is more than three hours from Memphis.

“They were told it would be presented next Thursday. John lied to them,” said Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) of Rep. John Gillespie. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Rep. Gloria Johnson hugs RowVaughn Wells, mother of the late Tyre Nichols. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Gillespie contended his community is “begging” for safer streets and refused to give in, saying the bill needed to pass immediately to cut Memphis crime.

Afterward, he said he texted Mr. Wells during Thursday’s session to let him know he was moving forward with the bill and received no response.

“I feel horrible that they feel this way. But I told them this bill was on the calendar today and that my intention was adding an amendment if I was allowed,” Gillespie said.

Regardless of who said what and when, Gillespie could have put it off again. Democrats practically begged him for a delay.

But the second-termer who succeeded the late Rep. Jim Coley wouldn’t budge — buoyed by supermajority Republicans. And two efforts by Towns to force postponement failed.

Eventually, the House voted along party lines to adopt Gillespie’s bill, bringing yet more criticism from Pearson.

“They were told it would be presented next Thursday. John lied to them,” Pearson told the Lookout later, basically the same thing he said on the floor.

The Wellses issued a statement later Thursday saying the legislation is a “dangerous step back in the fight for accountability, transparency and justice within law enforcement.” They consider the Memphis ordinances a “part of Tyre’s legacy,” intended to build trust between law enforcement and residents and prevent tragic deaths.

The Senate is likely to follow the House on this issue, even though Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) isn’t enthusiastic about several other constitutionally questionable measures emanating from the lower chamber.

The real question, however, is whether Memphis police will follow the legislature’s orders if the bill becomes law or stick with the Memphis City Council directive to limit “pretextual” stops, those in which officers pull over vehicles to make a “speculative” investigation unconnected to the reason for the stop, and not for enforcing traffic laws.

Some folks call it stereotyping or “driving while Black,” and the U.S. Department of Justice saw enough problems with Memphis policing policy to investigate last year.

But the city council, worn out with traffic stops turning into killings, took things into their own hands and prohibited “pretextual” policing.

It sounds like something the police department should have done years ago. But in the majority minority city on the banks of the Mississippi, change comes slowly — if at all.

Tags John Gillespie, Justin Pearson, Memphis, Tennessee General Assembly, Tyre Nichols