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![handle is hein.sag/sagtn0185 and id is 1 raw text is: STATE OF TENNESSEE
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
January 19, 2024
Opinion No. 24-001
Constitutionality of Proposed Legislation Limiting the Release of Tennessee National Guard
into Active-Duty Combat
Ouestion
Is House Bill 1609 of the 113* Tennessee General Assembly, 2nd Session (2024)
constitutional?
Opinion
House Bill 1609 is constitutionally suspect under the Supremacy Clause of the United
States Constitution.
ANALYSIS
House Bill 1609 provides that
[t]he Tennessee national guard or a member of the national guard must not be
released from military service of this state into active duty combat1 unless the
United States congress has passed an official declaration of war2 or has taken an
official action pursuant to the United States Constitution, Article I, § 8, Clause 15,
to explicitly call forth the Tennessee national guard or a member of the national
guard for the enumerated purposes of executing the laws of the union, repelling an
invasion, or suppressing an insurrection.
But House Bill 1609 expressly does not limit or prohibit the governor from consenting to
the deployment of a Tennessee national guard member under [Title 32 of the United States Code]
for defense support of civil authority missions within the United States and United States
territories.
For the reasons set forth below, House Bill 1609 is vulnerable to a legal challenge under
the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
' House Bill 1609 defines active duty combat as performing the following services in the active federal military
service of the United States: (A) Participation in armed conflict; (B) Performance of a hazardous service relating to
an armed conflict in a foreign state; or (C) Performance of a duty through an instrumentality of war.
2 House Bill 1609 defines an official declaration of war as an official declaration of war made by the Unites States
congress pursuant to the United States Constitution, Article I, § 8, Clause 11.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagtn0185&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)