Tennessee Supreme Court Rules Nashville Must Cut Its Metro Council From 40 to 20 Seats
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled unanimously on November 2 that Nashville, in Davidson County, must reduce its Metro Council from 40 to 20 members to comply with a 2023 state law. The ruling may be the final word in a three-and-a-half-year city-state legal battle, though Mayor Freddie O'Connell's office signaled the fight could continue; O'Connell said the council's size was set by the local community and should be changed only by voters, not the state legislature.
The 2023 law was one of several passed by Republican state lawmakers targeting Nashville after city leaders declined to apply to host the Republican National Convention. Its sponsor, state Rep. William Lamberth, welcomed the ruling as a win for small government and common sense. Nashville had won injunctions blocking the law in 2023 and 2024 but lost for the first time in 2025, when a three-judge state appeals panel found the law constitutional.
Nashville's 40-member council is the only city or metropolitan council in Tennessee with more than 20 members and the third-largest local council in the nation, behind New York and Chicago. What happens next is murky, but Nashville must redraw its district map to meet the 20-seat cap; the next council election is set for August 5.
(Source: The Tennessean)
Source: The Tennessean
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：田纳西州议会大厦，位于 Nashville。w_lemay 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville. By w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
