NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Inside a Nashville courtroom Monday afternoon, the question before Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal was simple in wording and enormous in reach: Did Gov. Bill Lee have the authority to send National Guard troops into Memphis as part of a public-safety task force?

A coalition of Memphis and Shelby County officials said he did not. Their petition for an injunction argued that the deployment violates Article III, Section 5 of the state’s Constitution, which makes the governor commander-in-chief of the militia only “in cases of rebellion or invasion.”

"That's horribly undemocratic and truly troubling when we are talking about a power as open to potential of misuse as the ability to deploy military force," attorney Joshua Salzman said.

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