Democracy Forward represents Shelby County mayor in National Guard lawsuit against governor

A nonprofit legal organization is representing Shelby County officials in a lawsuit over deployment of the Tennessee National Guard to Memphis. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

A nonprofit legal organization that has worked on dozens of high-profile lawsuits challenging the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration is representing Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and other local officials in their recently filed lawsuit against Gov. Bill Lee’s deployment of the National Guard in Memphis.

The lawsuit, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court on Oct. 17, states that Lee “trampled on Tennessee law by unilaterally deploying Tennessee National Guard members in Memphis as a domestic police force,” something the state’s constitution prohibits without approval from the General Assembly. It seeks a temporary injunction to block Tennessee National Guard members from acting in Memphis until the legal challenge is settled. 

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, and litigation attorney Yenisey Rodriguez spoke alongside Harris and other plaintiffs in a Wednesday news conference.

“The Constitution is clear: No rebellion, no invasion, no deployment. State statutes are clear: No deployment, unless local government requests it or the legislature approves it,” Rodriguez, one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit, said. “For more than 150 years, Tennessee has rejected the use of military forces to police its own civilians.”

“This isn’t a gray area or a partisan policy disagreement,” Rodriguez said. “This is a direct violation of the state constitution. Our clients have the responsibility to challenge it, and we are honored to be here with them in that challenge.”

Shelby County Mayor, elected officials sue Gov. Bill Lee over National Guard deployment

Democracy Forward formed in 2016 to challenge “threats to democracy and the wellbeing of Americans” in court and has filed more than 710 actions across more than 38 states, including 100 legal actions against Trump’s administration since he returned to office in 2025, according to its website.

Trump established the Memphis Safe Task Force in a presidential memo on Sept. 15, authorizing multiple federal agencies to work with state and local officials to “end street and violent crime in Memphis.” This memo also requested the support of Tennessee National Guard units to “support public safety and law enforcement operations.”

Lee agreed to deploy guardsmen, who joined more than 1,000 members of state and federal law enforcement agencies in Memphis beginning Oct. 10.

Harris said his office was told there are 159 National Guardsmen in Shelby County this week, up from 64 last week. The Tennessee National Guard did not respond to a request for confirmation.

Agencies that make up the task force have yet to release the names and charges of all individuals arrested since the task force’s launch.

Harris on Monday compared booking and bail data from the week of Oct. 6-12 with the data from the same week in 2023 and 2024, showing that both bookings and the number of bail determinations have roughly doubled in comparison. Felony and misdemeanor bail determinations for Oct. 6-12 are also higher this year compared to previous years. 

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of folks that have been booked — that is to say, arrested — for misdemeanor offenses,” Harris said.

In 2024, Shelby County courts set bail for 222 felony cases and 162 misdemeanor cases over that 7-day period. This year, the county logged 346 felony bail determinations and 300 misdemeanor bail determinations.

Mayor Harris: Lawsuit solely challenges National Guard deployment

In an earlier news conference on Monday, Harris emphasized that the lawsuit “is about the National Guard and deployment of military personnel, and it is not about the (other agencies that make up the) Memphis Safe Task Force.”

Shelby County officials have previously called for other state and federal agencies to “surge their investment in resources in Memphis and Shelby County,” Harris said. This includes advocating for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab to remain in Shelby County, opposing the removal of the FBI Field Office from the county in December 2024 and pushing for “sensible gun legislation” from the Tennessee state legislature. 

What the city wants is collaboration, Memphis City Council member JB Smiley, Jr., one of the plaintiffs, said Monday.

“We are always prepared to discuss how federal and state resources can help decrease crime in Shelby County that do not involve the National Guard,” Smiley said.

Attorney says more plaintiffs are welcome

The lawsuit was brought by Harris, state Rep. Gabby Salina and Rep. G.A. Hardaway, both Memphis Democrats, state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, Shelby County Commissioners Erika Sugarmon and Henri E. Brooks, and Smiley. 

The suit names Lee, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Tennessee National Guard Major General Warner Ross III as defendants. 

Harris clarified Monday that the City of Memphis was not asked to join the lawsuit.

The lawsuit has underscored the different approaches taken by the Shelby County mayor and Memphis Mayor Paul Young in responding to the task force’s presence.

At an Oct. 20 town hall hosted by Vecindarios 901, Young said his strategy “has been and continues to be to keep this task force focused on violent crime as opposed to immigration.” This includes embedding task force members into Memphis Police Department units including organized crime and homicide.

Young said he does not think the lawsuit is “going to stand the legal test.”

“It’s not something that the city’s going to be involved in,” he said.

On Wednesday, Harris said he did not have any comments about the City of Memphis “signing on or not signing on.”

Rodriguez, one of the lawsuit’s lead attorneys, said the plaintiffs believe they have the “appropriate parties” to “seek the relief that’s needed here, and we welcome any of those who are interested in participating in our lawsuit moving forward.”

Attorney addresses lawsuit’s scope

Attorneys for the plaintiffs on Wednesday said they are not concerned about Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal’s denial of a separate request for a preliminary injunction, which sought to stop National Guard activity before the lawsuit’s first hearing on Nov. 3.

“We really do believe the court will be fair in hearing all parties, and we have no concern that a denied (preliminary injunction) — from our experience in many other cases across the country — indicates any weakness in our case or anything about the future of this legislation,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also addressed the lawsuit’s limited scope, in light of previous remarks from Harris and other officials about potential racial profiling during task force traffic stops.

“We know there are many issues here, and there’s many ways to tackle them,” she said. “That’s just simply not our lawsuit. We pursued the claims that we thought we could at this moment, and we are definitely committed to working on —  with all our coalition partners both locally and nationally — to figure out what other issues we can tackle.”

Harris said Monday that he has heard “troubling actions on the part of those that have been deployed to Memphis and Shelby County” as part of the task force, but he has yet to receive a response from the task force’s leaders. 

“We would love to hear some sort of response about what they’re doing to address these anecdotal claims that there has been (racial) profiling since the deployment,” Harris said, adding that he would like to see daily reports with demographic data.

“We don’t want to make claims around what is happening without information,” he said.