Metro Nashville, new state airport board battle for authority

Metro Nashville is dueling with a new state-appointed airport board over who has control under a recent state law.

The state-appointed board voted Monday to withdraw the Metro Nashville Airport Authority from a lawsuit filed by Metro Nashville and its Metro-appointed board last month to stop a state takeover, according to court documents. The Tennessee Journal reported on the matter.

The state board contends no court stopped the law from taking effect July 1, making it “presumptively constitutional and legally operational,” according to a filing in U.S. District Court.

The state-controlled board, which has a majority of appointments by the governor and House and Senate speakers, also voted to change the legal counsel hired by the Metro-appointed board in early June, documents show. The state board hired George Cate with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP to replace Campbell Haynes and Phil Cramer with Sperling Kenny Nachwalter law firm.

Metro sues state again to block airport board takeover

Metro contends, though, that the new board has no authority because federal law prevents the Federal Aviation Administration from recognizing it until the legal dispute over changing “sponsorship” of the airport is resolved, according to Metro Nashville Legal Director Wally Dietz.

Metro Nashville sued the FAA last week in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, claiming that its failure to act on Metro’s lawsuit was “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to the law,” according to Dietz.

The court could be ready to make a ruling by July 20.

“As long as the litigation is ongoing, Metro asserts that what happened at yesterday’s meeting is of no effect,” Dietz said in an email to the Lookout.

Metro filed suit in federal court June 10 seeking an expedited injunction to avert a state law vacating five airport boards across the state and enabling them to be replaced with state appointees. 

The lawsuit is based on the 2024 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act passed by Congress, which stops states from taking over airport authorities in situations where the board objects. The FAA would be able to approve the takeover of an airport board only if it agreed to the replacement or reached a binding agreement with the state or a court resolved the matter.

Lawmakers passed a measure this year allowing the state to take over appointments to airport boards in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Tri-Cities three years after a three-judge panel blocked the legislature’s first effort to take control of the Nashville airport. The panel ruled that the law violated the state’s Home Rule Amendment, which prohibits the legislature from singling out a city or county government without its permission.

Republican lawmakers approved several bills in 2023 targeting Metro Nashville boards and other governing powers in retaliation for Metro blocking the 2024 Republican National Convention from being held in the city. The Metro Council vote came after lawmakers broke up Nashville’s only U.S. congressional district.