Where the action happens: the Tennessee Supreme Court. (Photo: John Partipilo)
For the umpteenth time in the last four years, the Legislature put the Attorney General’s Office in a bad spot: the job of defending the indefensible.
AG’s Office attorney Philip Hammersley had one hand tied behind his back Thursday when he argued for the state’s redistricting maps in a Tennessee Supreme Court hearing where the greatest questions of our time are decided— always without political overtones.
Hammersley conceded that the main challenger of the state’s 2022 redistricting map, Gary Wygant, could prove that his home of Gibson County shouldn’t have been split in the federally-required redrawing of districts but couldn’t make a statewide claim.
Hammersley contended, though, that if the Legislature, which is controlled by a Republican supermajority, hadn’t split Gibson, it might have been required to break up Tipton County in southwest Tennessee. Thus, the Legislature has wide latitude in drawing districts with equal populations as part of the required redistricting process.
A three-judge panel that ruled on the case initially found that Wygant had standing to sue over Gibson County, where he lives, but decided the House map didn’t violate the Constitution because the state acted in good faith. One judge dissented in that decision, disagreeing on who bears the burden of proof, and finding the state failed to prove it could have split fewer counties.
Supreme Court justices pointed out Thursday that putting Gibson back together again (along with Humpty Dumpty) would require a redrawing of the entire region and possibly every House district in the state. The remedy, though, will have to be decided later.
House passes redistricting plans amid threat of legal action
The state’s attorney contended the Legislature has the authority to draw the maps just about any way it wants, as long as it makes a good-faith effort to meet federal law for “one man one vote.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Scott Tift, countered by pointing out the House’s map drawer, attorney Doug Himes, testified that seven counties were split to protect incumbents and six others were separated for other non-constitutional reasons.
Tift’s main argument is that the state Constitution requires as few counties as possible to be split in redistricting required every 10 years to create equitable voting districts, yet the House simply stuck with splitting 30 counties.
Tift, also contended the burden of proof should lie with the state in proving why it drew the maps the way it did. (I have a guess: It gerrymandered the entire state to continue protecting Republican-controlled districts, a fairly common practice.)
Justices broached the idea Thursday that the Legislature could have drawn the map without taking any input from the public or considering alternatives.
It might have been helpful if they’d gone to the House redistricting committee hearing when the maps were approved.
If so, they would have seen a farce. Clearly, the trial court didn’t watch that dog-and-pony show (oops, I mean proceeding) when it decided the maps were fine.
The committee, after all, let Democrats and at least one other group present options. But they might as well have been pissing into the wind.
Republicans approved the map with little to no discussion, and then Rep. Curtis Johson, who chaired the committee but is not seeking re-election this year, declined to comment.
I hate to be mean, but it would have been comical if not so sad.
Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon was redrawn into a district that now includes portions of Nashville/Davidson County. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Predicting what might happen on the House side remains difficult, though, if the Supreme Court buys the argument that lawmakers need “flexibility,” as Justice Sarah Campbell pointed out.
On the Senate side, the state’s case is murkier.
The three-judge panel upheld the challenge by Davidson County resident Francie Hunt because the Constitution definitely says districts in large counties such as Davidson are to be consecutively numbered.
That didn’t happen when Senate mapmakers put Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon into Senate District 17, which lumps Donelson and Hermitage with Wilson County, to keep a seventh Democrat from being elected to the chamber.
The state’s main arguments are, first, that Hunt has no standing to sue, even though she lives in District 17, and, second, that she’s shown no “concrete injury.” The trial court found she did have standing.
Tift argues that Hunt, despite having the ability to cast a ballot, wasn’t afforded the “same protection” as voters in other large counties where Senate districts are consecutively numbered.
The Senate map moved Republican Ferrell Haile of Gallatin and District 18 out of Davidson, where it took in only a sliver of Old Hickory, and inserted Pody in District 17. That left Democratic Sens. Heidi Campbell in District 20, Charlane Oliver in District 19 and Jeff Yarbro in District 21 in Davidson County and created a situation in which three odd districts will be up for election in the same year and only one even district two years later. Tift referred to this as a “dilution” of Hunt’s voting power.
More than likely, the state is irritated that Hunt is the executive director of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, which it probably believes should eliminate her standing to sue.
But Hammersley was left to make the claim that the only person who could show “injury” would be an incumbent county commissioner who would be inconvenienced in seeking re-election.
This puzzled Justice Holly Kirby, who questioned whether Hunt would need to be put in a stronger position to protect Davidson County, which has been under lawmakers’ fire.
“I’m struggling with who would have standing,” Kirby said.
A word to the wise: “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
The argument rages
The legal team for Cade Cothren claims his attorney, Cynthia Sherwood, committed no ethical breach by sending a private investigator to the home of Bill Young, executive director of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, to question him shortly before Labor Day. Young was caught off guard by the PI’s visit and referred her to his attorney.
Sherwood declined to comment last week after the Registry of Election Finance voted to notify the Board of Professional Responsibility that she committed an ethics violation by having the private investigator contact Young, even though he is known to be represented by the Attorney General’s Office and staff attorneys in a case involving Cothren.
After thinking about the situation for nearly a week, Cothren’s legal staff sent a lengthy statement to the Lookout explaining that such a rule applies only “when a lawyer knows that someone is represented by a lawyer in a specific matter,” not matters “outside representation.”
Cothren’s legal staff contended that his attorney didn’t know a Registry of Election Finance employee “supposedly retained counsel for an unrelated federal criminal case.” Besides the Registry case dealing with a questionable PAC, Cothren faces federal bribery and conspiracy charges for allegedly running a secret vendor that produced House constituent mailers. He had been fired as Speaker Glen Casada’s chief of staff in the midst of a racist and sexist texting scandal, and his identity needed to remain hidden.
In their statement, Cothren’s legal team also said, “What should be concerning to every Tennessean is the continued insistence of legislators and powerful government officials that they are superior to the regular people they serve and are owed special treatment and unflinching deference. Somehow a private investigator simply asking to speak with them is ‘beyond reprehensible,’ as (Registry) board member Tom Lawless called it? Nonsense.”
The legal team contends board members either don’t understand legal ethics rules or are “intentionally misconstruing” them to “malign” Cothren.
Unfortunately for Cothren’s legal team, their argument should be made to the Professional Board of Responsibility, not the Lookout.
From hills to bills?
Following the sudden resignation of Bradley Jackson as executive director of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Bill Lee is backing one of his top aides, Alec Richardson, as the replacement for the business community’s main job, according to the Tennessee Journal.
Richardson works mostly behind the scenes for Lee, handling scheduling, board appointments and federal relations, as well providing advice on matters such as education and rural initiatives. He previously served as deputy chief of staff and personal aide to Lee after the governor won election in 2018.
On that note, I must point out Richardson grew up on Swindle Creek Road in Perry County, not far from my grandmother’s old house. When I was a kid, my cousins and I caught chickens there — and got into trouble for it — and ran from rattlesnakes on the nearby creek bank.
To put it mildly, this stretch is so far out in the woods they have to pipe in sunlight.
For him to be mentioned for the Chamber of Commerce leadership post is quite an honor, and, no doubt, a pretty big jump from the hills and hollows of Perry County.
Jumping Jehosaphat! Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, will skydive to bring awareness to prostate cancer. (Photo: John Partipilo)
“Might as well jump”
State Sen. Ken Yager, a Kingston Republican, is set to jump out of a plane at 14,000 feet Monday as part of a partnership with Tennessee Men’s Health Network to raise awareness about prostate cancer. Yager, who has been cancer-free for one year, encourages men to have regular prostate-specific antigen tests, which he says saved his life.
The 77-year-old Yager, who also lost considerable weight a couple of years ago by changing his diet and exercising, also gained a bit of confidence in his oratory skills and started taking them to the Senate floor more often.
Oddly enough, when he sees me coming, he usually starts scooting. Now, he’s flying.
“You got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real.” *
* “Jump,” Van Halen
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.