CROWD ACADEMY: Tennessee Chapter 5.

State Law Governing Redistricting: Tennessee

What State Laws Apply to

Congressional Redistricting?
While the reapportionment of legislative districts is a matter primarily
reserved to the respective states1, few state law principles apply to
congressional redistricting. Congress capped the size of the U.S. House of
Representatives to 435 seats in 1929, with each State getting at least one
and the rest divvied up based on population. The impact of a gained or lost
seat(s) on the electoral process is determined by state law. Under Tennessee
law, “[t]he general assembly shall establish the composition of districts for
the election of members of the [H]ouse of [R]epresentatives in [C]ongress
after each enumeration and apportionment of representation by the [C]
ongress of the United States. The districts may not be changed between
apportionments.”2 The Tennessee General Assembly passes its redistricting
plan similar to other legislation and therefore, the plan is subject to the
Governor’s veto.3 However, the Governor’s veto can be overridden by a
majority of both houses of the Legislature and entered into law.4 Tennessee
currently has 9 United States Congressional Districts based on the results of
the 2010 United States Census.

Tennessee
1
 rowe v. Emison, 507 U.S.
G
25, 34 (1993).
2
 enn. Code Ann. § 2-16-
T
102 (2016).
3
Tenn. Const. Art. III, § 18
4
Id.
2
 CROWD ACADEMY: Tennessee Chapter 5. State Law Governing Redistricting: Tennessee
What State Laws Apply to State
Legislative Redistricting?
The foundational structure and principles of a given State’s government can Tenn. Const. Art. 2, § 5
5 10
6
 ennessee Const. Art. 2,
T 11
be found in its Constitution, while the state’s statutory laws lay out certain § 4 (“Nothing in this Sec-
tion nor in this Article II
shall deny to the Gen-
rules more particularly. In recent years, some states have sought to alter their eral Assembly the right
at any time to apportion
one House of the
electoral processes by adding amendments to the state’s constitution. The General Assembly using
geography, political
new voter ID requirement in North Carolina – the subject of intense litigation subdivisions, substan-
tially equal population
and other criteria as
and public debate – offers a broadly familiar example of such an effort. When factors; provided such
apportionment when ef-
a new constitutional amendment is added, it often requires more specific fective shall comply with
the Constitution of the
rules in the way of statutory law to govern its implementation. We call this
United States as then
amended or authori-
tatively interpreted.”);
enabling legislation. Given the long-standing popularity among the States see also French v. Boner,
963 F.2d 890, 892 (6th
Cir. 1992) (determin-
of creating new rules and regulations as a tactic to manipulate the electoral ing that because the
United States Supreme
process, it is important for communities to be familiar with how new rules are Court has not spoken
to how long after the
decennial census a
implemented, and challenged, as well as the roles of the legislature, citizens, state must redistrict,
there was no issue in the
and other key figures in their State’s rulemaking processes.
city council members
serving malapportioned
districts).
7
 See Tenn. Code Ann. §
2-5-101 (2016)
In Tennessee, there are 99 members of the House of Representatives which 8
Tenn. Const. Art. 2, § 5
shall be apportioned by the General Assembly.5 “The apportionment of sena- 9
 enn. Code Ann. §
T
3-1-103(b)(5) (2012);
see also Lockert ex rel.
tors and representatives shall be substantially according to population,” but, Crowell, 656 S.W.2d 836,
844 (Tenn. 1983) (“[A]n
there is no timeline for when state redistricting must be completed as it can upper limit of dividing
30 counties in the
multi-county category is
be done at any time.6 Although, the legislature must remain aware of candi- appropriate[.]”)
date filing deadlines which may impact the redistricting process. Additionally,
7 Id. at 715
counties can be divided into different districts, or they can be combined into
one district if they are adjoining, but “no county shall be divided in forming this
type of [multi-county] district.”8 “No more than thirty counties may be split to
attach to other counties or parts of counties to form multi-county districts[.]”9
4
The Tennessee Senate “shall be apportioned by the General Assembly among Tenn. Const. Art. 2, § 6
See Senate Statewide
the several counties or districts substantially according to population, and Regional Map, available
at http://www.capitol.
tn.gov/districtmaps/
shall not exceed one-third the number of representatives.”10 There are cur- SenateState.html; Tenn.
Code Ann. § 3-1-102
(2016)
rently 33 senatorial districts in Tennessee.11 Additionally, a senatorial appor-
12
 ee State ex rel. Lockert v.
S
Crowell, 631 S.W.2d 702,
tionment plan must cross as few county lines as is necessary to comply with 709 (Tenn. 1982); see also
Tenn. Const. Art. 2, § 6.
federal constitutional requirements.12 13
See Tenn. Const. Art. 2, §
4; Lockert ex rel. Crowell,
631 S.W.23d 702 (Tenn.
1982) (Lockert I), 656
Each House apportionment or Senate apportionment is done via a legislative S.W.2d 836 (Tenn. 1983)
(Lockert II); 729 S.W.2d
88 (Tenn. 1987) (Lockert
act, and historically, there have been challenges to these acts.13 Rules deriving III).
14
 31 S.W.2d at 714; but
6
from decisions by the Tennessee Supreme Court are referred to as case law see Brown v. Thomson,
462 U.S. 835, 842 (1983)
or precedent. In Lockert I, the Tennessee Supreme Court determined that the (“[W]e have held that
‘minor deviations
from mathematical
population variance in senatorial districts should be as low as possible, “be- equality among state
legislative districts are
insufficient to make out
cause equality of population is still the principal consideration.”14 Additionally, a prima facie case of
invidious discrimination
minority groups’ opportunities to participate in the political process should under the Fourteenth
Amendment so as to
require justification by
not be diluted, in line with the United States Constitution.15 Lastly, the Court the State.’ Our decisions
have established, as
determined that “political considerations are a reality and [ ] have a place in a general matter, that
an apportionment
plan with a maximum
the creation of legislative districts.”16 These standards apply to both senatorial population deviation
under 10% falls within
and house reapportionment plans.17 this category of minor
deviations.”) (internal
citations omitted).
15
631 S.W.2d at 714
16
17
See Lockert II, 656 S.W.2d
836; see also Baker v.
Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
(Appeal from the United
States District Court for
the Middle District of
Tennessee, setting forth
a framework for the one
person, one vote equita-
ble standard)
 CROWD ACADEMY: Tennessee Chapter 5. State Law Governing Redistricting: Tennessee

What State Laws Apply to Local

Redistricting?
Local Electoral Districts
In addition to United States Congressional Districts and state legislative dis-
tricts, each state consists of local electoral districts or territorial subdivisions 18
 enn. Code Ann. §
T
5-1-111(a) (2016); see also
for electing local public officials to legislative bodies such as the school Tenn. Const. Art. VII,
§ 1 (“[County] districts
board or town council. These districts are referred to by a variety of differ- shall be reapportioned
at least every ten
years based upon the
ent names depending on the state – i.e. election districts, wards, or precincts. most recent federal
census. The legislative
The United States Census Bureau has adopted the term VTD (voting district) body shall not exceed
twenty-five members,
and no more than three
as the generic term it uses to refer to the wide variety of polling areas that representatives shall be
elected from a district.”);
Tenn. Code Ann. §
State and local governments create for the purposes of administering elec- 5-5-102(a) (2016) (“The
county legislative body
tions. shall be composed of
not less than nine (9)
nor more than twen-
ty-five (25) members”);
Zach Vance, County Re-
After the decennial census, Tennessee county legislative bodies can redraw sponds to Redistricting
Lawsuit,
their district boundaries “if necessary to apportion the county legislative 19
 enn. Code Ann. §
T
5-1-111 (2016), Johnson
body so that the members represent substantially equal populations.”18 The City Press (July 10, 2017),
https://www.johnson-
citypress.com/Gov-
county legislative body may increase or decrease the number of districts ernment/2017/07/10/
County-responds-to-re-
districting-lawsuit.html
when reapportioning and they may reapportion at any time if the county (detailing a candidates
challenge to Washing-
legislative body “deems such action necessary to maintain substantially ton County decreasing
its number of commis-
sioners from 25 to 15).
equal representation based on population.”19 But, as the Tennessee Attor- 20
 tate of Tennessee
S
Comptroller of the
ney General opined in an advisory opinion, “[t]here is no express or implied Treasury Office of Local
Government, A Guide
authority in Section 5-1-111 to reapportion at any time merely to create more to Local Redistricting
in Tennessee, at 4-5,
available at https://www.
compact districts [when districts are already substantially equal in popula- comptroller.tn.gov/
content/dam/cot/pa/
tion].”20 documents/lg/Guide-
ToRedistrict.pdf (last
visited January 7, 2019)
(citing No. U96-005)
 enn. Code Ann. §
T
County legislative bodies shall have between 9 and 25 members, all residing
21

5-5-102(a)-(b) (2016) (All

counties are districted
within specific districts.21 Districts can be multi-member, but no more than with Class 2 counties
(population between
150,000 and 400,000
three commissioners may be elected from each district.22 The county leg- as noted by Tenn. Code
Ann. § 8-24-101 (1996))
islative body has the discretion within multi-member districts to have the being required to have

be heard
at least 9 districts).

candidates run at-large or within designated seats.23 “Notwithstanding any 22

 Id. at (d)
23
Id. at (h)(1); see also
other law or charter to the contrary,” members of municipal legislative bodies, County Technical Assis-
tance Service, available
at http://eli.ctas.
popularly elected school boards, or “any other similarly constituted and elect- tennessee.edu/printpdf/
book/export/html/10
ed board or commission of a county or municipality … [shall not be elected at (last visited February
25, 2020).

6
 CROWD ACADEMY: Tennessee Chapter 5. State Law Governing Redistricting: Tennessee

24
 enn. Code Ann. § 6-53-
T
large if they are nominated from a district, but] shall be elected from districts 110 (a)(1) (1983)
25
Id. at (b)(2)
as established by the appropriate county or municipality.” However, this
24 26
Id. at (a)(1)(A-B)
27
Id. at (b)(1)(B); Tenn.
specific statute only applies to local governmental entities that use a “district” Code Ann. § 5-5-102(a)-
(b); see also Tenn. Code
method of election.25 Members of elected bodies and commissions in munic- Ann. § 49-2-201(c) (2014)
28
 Guide to Local Redis-
A
ipalities (cities and towns) elected within districts must create districts that tricting in Tennessee, at
9; see also Rural W. Tenn.
African-American Affairs
“[a]ssure representation of substantially equal populations and guarantee Council v. McWherter,
836 F. Supp. 447, 451
(W.D. Tenn. 1993) (“We
the principle of one man/one vote in compliance with the Constitution of the do not interpret the U.S.
Supreme Court’s deci-
United States” and they must be contiguous and non-overlapping.26 However, sions to require that the
legislature devote every
last iota of its scarce
municipalities with less than 50,000 people or counties with populations of time and resources
toward drawing the
less than 90,000 people (according to the 1980 Census) do not have to abide best plan possible….
As long as the total
population variance
by this specific reapportionment statute, but there still must be electoral dis- is less than 10%, and
there is no showing of
tricts with the exception of some county boards of education.27 bad faith on the part
of the legislature, the
plan will be presumed
valid under the one
person, one vote stan-
Additionally, local officials should be cognizant of the 10% population de- dard.”); Rural W. Tenn.
African-American Affairs
Council v. McWherter,
viation rule when redistricting, but the only requirement is for local officials 877 F. Supp. 1096, 1104
(W.D. Tenn. 1995) (citing
to make a “good faith effort to construct districts based on the ‘one person, Brown v. Thomson’s 10%
deviation standard).

one vote’ standard.”28 As for Tennessee County Boards of Education, they can 29
 enn. Code Ann. § 49-
T
2-201(a) (2014); see also
Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-53-
have members that are “elected from districts of substantially equal popula- 110 (b)(2) (this section
only applies to local
tion established by resolution of the local legislative body.”29 However, some governmental entities
that use a “district”
method of election).
county boards of education may utilize the same method of election as their 30
 enn. Code Ann. § 49-
T
2-201(c) (some counties
governing legislative body (i.e. at-large, single-member districts, or a combi- can utilize the same
type of election as its
governing legislative
nation of the two).30 body (at-large, sin-
gle-member districts, or
a mix of the two) except
for those school boards
whose members were
elected from districts
as of June 6, 1995,
those members must
continue to be elected
by district).