GARY WYGANT, ET AL. v. BILL LEE, GOVERNOR, ET AL. - Articles

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GARY WYGANT, ET AL. v. BILL LEE, GOVERNOR, ET AL.

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Dec 10, 2025

Head Comment: With separate concurring opinions from KIRBY and TARWATER

Attorneys 1: Scott P. Tift, David W. Garrison, and John Spragens, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Gary Wygant.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; J. Matthew Rice, Solicitor General; Philip Hammersley, Assistant Solicitor General; Pablo Adrian Varela, Assistant Attorney General; Jacob R. Swatley, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellees, Bill Lee, Governor of the State of Tennessee, Tre Hargett, Tennessee Secretary of State, and Mark Goins, Coordinator of Elections.

Attorneys 3: Scott P. Tift, David W. Garrison, and John Spragens, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Francie Hunt.

Judge(s): CAMPBELL

In this case, two Tennessee voters challenge the state House and Senate redistricting maps the General Assembly passed after the 2020 census. Gary Wygant, a Gibson County voter, alleges that the House redistricting map violates Article II, Section 5 of the Tennessee Constitution because it splits more counties than needed to comply with federal law. Francie Hunt, a Davidson County voter, alleges that the Senate redistricting map violates Article II, Section 3 of the Tennessee Constitution because it fails to consecutively number one of the four Senate districts in Davidson County. We hold that Wygant has standing to challenge only the split of Gibson County, not the entire House map. But his challenge fails on the merits: Wygant did not prove—as he must to establish a violation of Article II, Section 5—that the split was unnecessary to comply with federal law and lacked a rational or legitimate basis. We further hold that Hunt lacks standing to challenge the Senate map because she did not suffer an injury in fact from the misnumbering of Davidson County’s Senate districts. We therefore affirm the trial court’s judgment rejecting Wygant’s district- specific challenge on the merits, reverse the judgment concluding that Hunt has standing, and vacate the judgment holding the Senate map unconstitutional.

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