When the chancellor who serves both Tennessee's Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts retires, does the next chancellor still serve both districts, or does each district get its own?

Plain-English summary

The Coordinator of Elections asked the AG a precise statutory-interpretation question. Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A) says, in part: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law or this part to the contrary, the chancellor currently serving in the fourth judicial district also serves the fifth judicial district. As long as the chancellor for the fourth judicial district also serves the fifth judicial district, such chancellor shall be elected by the qualified voters of both such districts and may reside in either district." When that statute was last amended in 1999, a particular person held the dual-district chancellor seat. By 2021 that incumbent was preparing to retire and not seek reelection. Did the shared-chancellor arrangement end with the incumbent's retirement, leaving the Fifth District (Blount County) without its own chancellor, or did the arrangement continue?

AG Slatery answered that the arrangement continues. The opinion is short because the statutory text is plain. The phrase "currently serving" describes whoever holds the office, not the specific person serving in 1999. When that person leaves, a vacancy opens, the vacancy is filled by the normal process, and the new chancellor steps into the same statutory role: serving both the Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts, elected by voters of both, and free to live in either.

The AG also flags a constitutional check. Tenn. Const. art. VI, § 4 requires that judges of the chancery court "be elected by the qualified voters of the district or circuit to which they are to be assigned" and that they have been a resident of the circuit or district for one year before election. The shared-chancellor scheme satisfies that requirement because the chancellor is elected by voters of both districts and may reside in either, so the residency requirement for whichever district the chancellor calls home is met.

What this means for you

If you are a county election commission in Blount, Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson, or Sevier

Under this opinion, the shared chancellor seat continues across the incumbent's retirement. The chancellor serving the Fourth Judicial District also serves the Fifth and, per § 16-2-506(4)(A), is elected by the qualified voters of both districts. The opinion concludes the incumbent's retirement creates a vacancy to be filled, not an end to the arrangement.

If you are a candidate for the shared chancery seat

The opinion reads § 16-2-506(4)(A) to mean one chancellor serves both districts, elected by the voters of both, and may reside in either. It notes this is consistent with Tenn. Const. art. VI, § 4, which requires a chancery judge to be elected by the voters of the district and to have resided in the circuit or district for one year before election.

If you are a voter in Blount County (Fifth District)

The opinion concludes the Fifth District does not get its own separate chancellor by virtue of the incumbent retiring. The chancellor for the Fourth District also serves the Fifth, and is elected by the voters of both. The opinion observes the General Assembly has not amended § 16-2-506(5)(A) to create a separate Fifth District chancellor.

Common questions

Q: Why did this question come up at all?
A: The statute uses words like "incumbent" and "currently serving," which can read as if they refer to a particular person, especially after that person held the seat for many years. With a retirement looming, election officials wanted a clean answer about whether the shared seat continued or whether the Fifth District (Blount County) needed its own chancellor.

Q: What did the AG decide?
A: The shared seat continues. "Currently serving" is not a reference to any specific person; it describes whoever holds the office at any given time. The statute structurally establishes that the Fourth District's chancellor also serves the Fifth.

Q: Could the General Assembly create a separate Fifth District chancellor?
A: Yes, by amending § 16-2-506. The AG opinion notes that the legislature has not done so, even after multiple revisions to the statute in 1991 and 1999.

Q: What about the residency requirement in the Tennessee Constitution?
A: Tenn. Const. art. VI, § 4 says chancery judges must have resided in "the circuit or district one year" before election. § 16-2-506(4)(A) says the chancellor "may reside in either district." The AG explains the two are consistent: residing in either the Fourth or the Fifth satisfies the constitutional residency requirement, because both are "the district" for the shared seat.

Q: How is the vacancy filled when the incumbent retires?
A: Through the standard process for filling judicial vacancies under Tennessee law (gubernatorial appointment subject to commission review, followed by election). The opinion does not retell that process; it just confirms that when the seat is filled, the new chancellor inherits the same dual-district role.

Q: When did the dual-district arrangement start?
A: The General Assembly first enacted § 16-2-506(4)(A) in 1984 (1984 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 931, § 6). It was amended in 1991 and 1999. Voters of both districts have elected the shared chancellor since 1990. None of the amendments changed the structural choice to share one chancellor across the two districts.

Background and statutory framework

Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506 divides Tennessee into thirty-two judicial districts and sets the number of circuit judges and chancellors for each. The Fourth Judicial District is made up of Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson, and Sevier Counties. The Fifth Judicial District consists of Blount County alone. § 16-2-506(4)(A) contains the operative language for this opinion: it says the chancellor "currently serving" in the Fourth Judicial District also serves the Fifth, and as long as that arrangement continues, the chancellor is elected by voters of both districts and may live in either.

The AG reads "currently serving" and "incumbent" as office-descriptive, not person-descriptive. That reading aligns with the dictionary definition of "incumbent" (a person currently holding an office, regardless of identity) and with how the General Assembly has treated the statute through repeated amendments without ever pegging the shared arrangement to a particular individual. It also harmonizes with Tenn. Const. art. VI, § 4: a single chancellor elected by both districts, residing in either, satisfies the constitutional design that judges be elected by the voters of, and reside in, the relevant district.

Citations

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A) (Fourth District; shared-chancellor arrangement)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(5)(A) (Fifth District; Blount County)
• 1984 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 931, § 6
• 1991 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 435, § 1
• 1999 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 179, § 1
• Tenn. Const. art. VI, § 4

Subject

One Chancellor to Serve Both the Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2021/op21-17.pdf

Original opinion text

One Chancellor to Serve Both the Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A)

Question
Whether Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A) is intended to provide for one chancellor shared by Judicial Districts 4 and 5, or whether it is intended to apply only to the incumbent and ceases with the retirement of the incumbent chancellor.

Opinion
The plain language of Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A) reflects the legislative intent that one chancellor is to continue to serve both the Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts and that one chancellor is to be elected by the qualified voters of both districts and may reside in either district.

ANALYSIS

Tennessee Code Annotated § 16-2-506 divides the State into thirty-two judicial districts and establishes, among other things, the number of circuit judges and chancellors for each judicial district. The question arises because the current, incumbent chancellor who serves both the Fourth and the Fifth Judicial Districts is retiring and does not intend to seek re-election in the August 2022 general election.

The Fifth Judicial District consists of Blount County. Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(5)(A). The Fourth Judicial District consists of Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson, and Sevier Counties. "The three incumbent trial court judges currently residing in such counties [in the Fourth Judicial District] shall continue to serve the fourth judicial district in their respective capacities." Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A). In addition,

[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law or this part to the contrary, the chancellor currently serving in the fourth judicial district also serves the fifth judicial district. As long as the chancellor for the fourth judicial district also serves the fifth judicial district, such chancellor shall be elected by the qualified voters of both such districts and may reside in either district.

Id. (emphasis added).

The plain language of Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A), which was last amended in 1999, reflects the legislative intent that one chancellor is to continue to serve both the Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts and that that one chancellor is to be elected by the qualified voters of both districts and may reside in either district. If the person who holds that office retires or resigns, that does not abolish the office or alter the effect of the statute. It simply creates a vacancy that will be filled according to the applicable, statutorily prescribed process. Once the vacancy is filled, the new chancellor will be the "incumbent" or "currently serving" chancellor in the Fourth Judicial District within the meaning of § 16-2-506(4)(A). And as the "currently serving" chancellor in the Fourth Judicial District will also, as § 16-2-506(4)(A) specifies, "serve the fifth judicial district." Put another way, neither "incumbent chancellor" nor "currently serving chancellor" as used in the statute is a reference to a particular person, but rather refers generally to anyone who holds that office at any given time. See New Oxford American Dictionary 881 (3d ed. 2010) (defining "incumbent").

In accordance with that plain meaning, since 1990 the qualified voters of both the Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts have elected the chancellor to serve both districts. The General Assembly originally enacted Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A) in 1984 and last amended that code section in 1999. See 1984 Tenn Pub. Acts, ch. 931, § 6; 1991 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 435, § 1; and 1999 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 179, § 1. None of the amendments to § 16-2-506(4)(A) changed the provision that the chancellor serving the Fourth Judicial District is also to serve the Fifth Judicial District. Nor has the General Assembly amended § 16-2-506(5)(A) to create a separate office of chancellor for the Fifth Judicial District.

In sum, as reflected by the plain language of Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A), one chancellor is to continue to serve both the Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts and that that one chancellor is to be elected by the qualified voters of both districts and may reside in either district. The retirement of any particular chancellor has no effect on that statutory allocation of judicial resources.

The statute's provisions that the chancellor is to be elected by the qualified voters of both districts and may reside in either district is consistent with the requirements of Tenn. Const. art. VI, § 4, which requires that judges of the chancery court "be elected by the qualified voters of the district or circuit to which they are to be assigned" and that they shall have been a resident "of the circuit or district one year" prior to their election.

HERBERT H. SLATERY III
Attorney General and Reporter

ANDRÉE SOPHIA BLUMSTEIN
Solicitor General

JANET M. KLEINFELTER
Deputy Attorney General

Requested by:
Mark Goins
Coordinator of Elections
312 Rosa L. Parks Ave. 7th Floor
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-1102