NAACP Tennessee State Conference v. The State of Tennessee Governor — Emergency Petition (May 7, 2026)

NAACP Tennessee State Conference, with President Gloria Sweet-Love as named plaintiff, filed suit in the Chancery Court for the Twentieth Judicial District at Nashville (Davidson County) on May 7, 2026, the day Governor Lee signed HB 7003. The petition names two respondents, “THE STATE OF TENNESSEE GOVERNOR and THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE.” The amended petition, e-filed May 12, 2026, added Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Elections Coordinator Mark Goins as respondents, and Representative Jesse Chism and candidate Devante Hill as petitioners. The petition raises no Voting Rights Act claim and no claim of racial motive; its statutory claim is under Section 2-16-102 of the Tennessee Code. Lead state-law claim: that Tennessee law restricts a special legislative session to the purposes stated in the governor’s proclamation, and that Lee’s proclamation did not state intent to repeal Tennessee’s prohibition on mid-decade congressional redistricting or to suspend candidate residency requirements for the 2026 election. An amended complaint filed May 12, 2026 added a state representative and a U.S. House candidate as plaintiffs and raised additional claims of voter confusion and campaign chaos. First hearing before a three-judge panel set for May 21, 2026 at the Tennessee Supreme Court Building.

Disposition, added 2026-09-17. This record describes the pleading, not the outcome, and for four months it ended at the hearing date. The hearing was held on May 21 and converted by stipulation into the final hearing on the merits; on May 26, 2026 the panel dismissed the case with prejudice in its entirety. The order is filed separately at naacp-tennessee-v-lee-final-order-2026, which carries the holdings verbatim and the appeal status. A pleading record that stops at the filing is how a closed case goes on reading as an open one.

Corrected 2026-10-01. This record gave the caption as “NAACP Tennessee State Conference v. Lee” and said the complaint named four defendants, including Hargett and Goins. The May 7 petition, read in full on October 1, 2026, names the governor and the General Assembly only; the amended petition of May 12 added Hargett and Goins.