Campaign Legal Center Action is representing Tennessee Senator Charlane Oliver and four of her constituents in a lawsuit seeking to protect Senator Oliver’s right to free speech and her constituents’ right to equal representation following unlawful punishments against the senator and her constituents in retaliation for her speech.
Back to topThe right to speak freely without fear of retaliation is at the core of a healthy democracy. When legislative leaders punish fellow lawmakers for expressing dissenting views, they do more than target an individual legislator. They undermine the voices of the people whom that legislator was elected to represent.
This principle is at the heart of a...
In May 2026, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called a special legislative session to gerrymander Tennessee’s congressional map. The aim was to redraw the state’s map to crack the predominantly Black city of Memphis, Tennessee into three districts. The new map eliminated the seat that had traditionally represented Memphis and prevents Black voters in Memphis from having the opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.
At the special session, Tennessee Senator Charlane Oliver denounced the new map as a blatant attempt to disenfranchise Black voters in Memphis. But Senate Speaker Randy McNally and Chief Clerk Russell Humphrey retaliated against her due to her speech, in violation of Senator Oliver’s constitutional rights. They refused to count Senator Oliver’s vote against Tennessee’s new gerrymandered congressional map, and they imposed a series of punishments that substantially interfere with Senator Oliver’s ability to represent her more than 200,000 constituents.
Those punishments violate Senator Oliver’s First Amendment right to be free from retaliation for her speech and the Fourteenth Amendment rights of her constituents to equal representation. They also violate the Tennessee Constitution’s requirement that any punishment against a legislator be issued by their chamber as a whole, not at the whim of one or more of its officers.
Senator Oliver and the voters she represents refuse to be silenced. This lawsuit seeks to reverse the unlawful retaliation against Senator Oliver and to correct the legislative record to reflect the vote that Senator Oliver cast on behalf of her constituents against the disenfranchisement of Black voters.
Campaign Legal Center Action filed this lawsuit on behalf of Senator Oliver and her constituents in partnership with The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison, PLLC.
