Bombshell court decision rocks local Tennessee governments

Sorry about the light (no) blogging yesterday in Chris's absence. We got wound up in a huge local story that, while it doesn't have a wide ranging affect around the South, is interesting nonetheless.

It seems that twelve years after voters enacted term limits in the state's second and third largest municipalities (Memphis/Shelby Co. and Knoxville/Knox Co.), the Tennessee Supreme Court finally got around to upholding them yesterday. This has a huge impact on local government and upcoming elections in in Knox Co. because two-thirds of the county commission were just made ineligible to hold office or seek reelection, and their names are being removed from the ballot that was just approved for a primary in which early voting starts in about two weeks.

For those who are interested, there's more on the story as it unfolded yesterday afternoon here, commentary here, and this morning's media roundup here.