Tennessee Officials Sue Over National Guard Presence in Memphis

Seven Tennessee officials sued on Friday over the deployment of the National Guard in Memphis, the latest lawsuit against the push to send troops to Democratic-led cities perceived as overrun with crime.

The lawsuit was brought by the mayor of surrounding Shelby County, as well as six local and state lawmakers in Tennessee. It is backed by Democracy Forward, a national liberal-leaning legal nonprofit that has helped support dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration, and the National Immigration Law Center.

“Our nation’s founders recognized that military rule was incompatible with liberty and democracy,” the lawsuit said. It added that “the facts on the ground cannot justify defendants’ overreach” and that “crime is not a circumstance that passes constitutional muster.”

Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal of Davidson County Chancery Court denied a request for an immediate temporary restraining order against further deployment and instead set a Nov. 3 hearing for the case.

Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican who has supported the deployment of the troops, and Jonathan Skrmetti, the Tennessee attorney general, are both named in the lawsuit. Neither office immediately responded to requests for comment, nor did a spokeswoman for the Tennessee National Guard.

Memphis is one of several Democratic-led cities that President Trump has singled out as part of a nationwide crackdown on crime. But while Portland, Ore.; Chicago; and other cities mentioned by Mr. Trump are in Democratic-led states where governors have joined local officials in opposing the deployment of troops, the Republican supermajority in Tennessee’s leadership has embraced Mr. Trump’s plan.

That has made the arrival of the National Guard a complicated matter in Memphis, a majority Black city, where there is both apprehension about troops in fatigues patrolling the streets and a weariness with persistently high crime rates.

Community organizers have called on the city to object to the federal presence, warning about further straining an already overwhelmed court system and the accusations of racial discrimination that have dogged both local and national officers. There are also concerns about inflaming fears in the immigrant community in Memphis, given Mr. Trump’s push to detain undocumented immigrants.

Paul Young, the Democratic mayor of Memphis, is notably not part of the lawsuit, though he has voiced some opposition to the use of the National Guard. Mr. Young, while pointedly noting that crime rates have started to improve, has stood alongside Mr. Lee, stressing a desire to keep local leadership involved with federal agents.

“Our focus remains on protecting residents, reducing crime and building the community our citizens deserve,” Tannera Gibson, the chief legal officer for the city of Memphis, said in a statement. “We will not participate in this litigation.”

The lawsuit focuses on the National Guard, rather than the handful of federal and state agencies who make up the larger task force that Mr. Trump established through an executive order last month. Hundreds of officials from several agencies — including the F.B.I.; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Drug Enforcement Administration — have been deputized under the leadership of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The National Guard troops cannot make arrests or execute warrants in the same the way that the other officers with the task force can.

Members of the Tennessee National Guard have been physically patrolling parts of downtown Memphis for the last week, as part of a broader surge of hundreds of federal agents and state troopers that began in late September. Federal officials said hundreds of arrests had been made in the last month as a result of the task force.

“We’re seeing safer streets, quieter neighborhoods and law-abiding citizens reclaiming their community,” State Senator Brent Taylor, a Republican, wrote on social media this week. “This is our opportunity to Make Memphis Marvelous by becoming a model for the nation: clean, safe, and thriving.”

In the lawsuit, the officials argue that Mr. Lee has overextended his constitutional authority by sending the troops to Memphis without evidence of “rebellion or invasion,” the two instances that are cited in the State Constitution for the deployment of militia.

“Rebellions and invasions are existential threats to a sovereign government,” the lawsuit said. “There is, at present, no ‘rebellion’ or ‘invasion’ in Memphis within the meaning of the Constitution.”

The lawsuit also argued that Mr. Lee had overstepped by agreeing to send National Guard troops at Mr. Trump’s request, but without formally asking local officials in Memphis or Shelby County. There also has not been a vote in the Tennessee General Assembly, which is not in session, on the issue.

In a statement, Mayor Lee Harris of Shelby County, a Democrat, said that “this action erodes public trust and heightens fear, underscoring that real public safety comes from investing in education, housing and mental health, not from militarizing our communities.”

He is joined in the lawsuit by J.B. Smiley, a Memphis councilman; Erika Sugarmon and Henri E. Brooks, two Shelby County commissioners; State Representatives Gabby Salinas and G.A. Hardaway of Memphis; and State Senator Jeff Yarbro of Nashville. All are affiliated with the Democratic Party.