by Urban Journal News staff
The Tennessee Supreme Court has dismissed Metro Nashville’s legal challenge to the state’s takeover of the Nashville International Airport Authority, delivering another setback to the city’s efforts to maintain local control over major government institutions.
In its ruling Monday, the court determined that changes made by the Tennessee General Assembly earlier this year rendered Metro’s lawsuit moot, meaning the original legal dispute no longer required a decision.
The controversy began in 2023 when Republican state lawmakers passed legislation removing the Nashville mayor’s authority to appoint all seven members of the airport authority’s governing board.
Under the revised structure, the board consists of eight members, with two appointments each controlled by Nashville’s mayor, Tennessee’s governor, the House speaker and the Senate speaker.
Metro challenged the legislation, arguing that it violated constitutional protections against state laws targeting individual local governments.
Lower courts largely sided with Nashville, but the General Assembly amended the legislation in April 2026 to apply to metropolitan and regional airport authorities statewide rather than specifically to Nashville.
The Supreme Court concluded that those changes addressed the legal issues raised in Metro’s original lawsuit.
Metro officials argued that lawmakers had changed the legislation after years of litigation to avoid an unfavorable court ruling. The justices rejected that argument as grounds for continuing the case.
The court vacated the previous appellate judgment and directed Davidson County Chancery Court to dismiss the lawsuit.
The dispute has created an unusual situation at Nashville International Airport, where state officials installed a new governing board while Mayor Freddie O’Connell and Metro continued recognizing the previously appointed board.
O’Connell has refused to appoint representatives to the state-controlled authority.
Metro has also pursued federal litigation involving the Federal Aviation Administration over its response to the takeover.
The ruling follows another recent Tennessee Supreme Court decision upholding a state law requiring Nashville to reduce its 40-member Metro Council to no more than 20 members, intensifying an ongoing dispute over the balance of power between state lawmakers and Nashville’s elected local government.
