Editing Shelby County, Tennessee (section)

==Law and government==

The first county government was established as a quarterly court in 1820. During Reconstruction following the [[American Civil War]], Governor [[William G. Brownlow]] appointed a five-member commission to govern the county. When the state drafted a new constitution in 1870, it required county officials to be elected by the people or the Quarterly Court. By 1910 the Shelby County Quarterly Court had 50 members, making it inefficient; some prominent people complained it was "too democratic."

[[E. H. Crump]], the political boss of Memphis who was also influential in the county and state, gained a 1911 legislative act creating a three-member executive commission for the Shelby County Commission, which could override the court on all issues except setting property taxes, which was protected by the state constitution. He also had the number of districts reduced to nineteen and then seven.<ref name="hist">[https://www.shelbycountytn.gov/index.aspx?NID=1264 "A Brief History of Shelby County"], Shelby County, TN website</ref> After Crump's death in 1954, the executive commission of the county was abolished.<ref>[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1198 Edward F. Williams III, "Shelby County"], Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2009/2011</ref>

In 1964, the US Supreme Court ruled in ''[[Baker v. Carr]]'' that legislative districts had to be apportioned by population under the [[Equal Protection Clause]], a principle known as [[one man, one vote]]. This change was incorporated in Shelby County, which had been biased toward geographic representation. In 1965, there were nine districts established, of roughly equal population, to elect members to the Quarterly Court.<ref name="hist"/> These have been redistricted as needed based on decennial census population changes.

In 1975, the people voted to ratify the Shelby County Restructure Act, creating a single elected executive, with the title of mayor, and an eleven-member legislative body (now called the County Commission). The commission has been expanded to thirteen members. The mayor is elected at-large and all the county commissioners are elected from 13 districts.<ref>[http://www.shelbycountytn.gov/index.aspx?NID=71 Shelby County Commission], Shelby County Government website</ref> The members of the county commission serve four-year terms.

Other elected officials in Shelby County include the [[Shelby County Sheriff's Office (Tennessee)|sheriff]], the chief law enforcement officer; trustee, chief tax collector, and assessor, the chief property appraiser.<ref>[http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/countygov/ Shelby County Topic Page], "News about the Shelby County government", ''[[The Commercial Appeal]]''</ref>

The government has an annual budget of $1.1 billion and 6,000 employees.

===School board===

Until 1996, the Shelby County Commission appointed members to the [[Shelby County Schools (Tennessee)|Shelby County School Board]]. This system was changed to comply with interpretation by the state that its constitution required that county officials, including school board members, should be elected by all residents of the county, and provisions of the state Education Improvement Act. In 1996 under what was known as Plan C, the Shelby County Commission established seven single-member special election districts for election of county school board members by all residents of the county. This was challenged in the case known as ''Board of County Commissioners of Shelby County Tennessee v. Burson''.<ref name="burson">[https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1297214.html ''Board of County Commissioners of Shelby County Tennessee v. Burson''] (1997), Findlaw</ref> Shelby County and its Board of Commissioners as plaintiffs, joined by mayors of the six suburban municipalities, filed suit in 1996 against Plan C, arguing that their rights were violated under the "one person, one vote" principle embodied in the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, as their vote would be diluted. Although Memphis City had its own school system, the Memphis population made up 74.8% of the county's population in the 1990 census, so its representatives would dominate an elected county school board, with six of seven positions. Thus Memphis representatives would dominate a system intended to serve only county residents and students who lived outside the city.<ref name="burson"/>

The US district court found in this case:
*the City of Memphis did not provide significant financial support to the Shelby County School District, and received money from the county; 
*the overwhelming voting power of the out-of-district Memphis residents virtually guaranteed that out-of-district residents would control the Shelby County Board of Education;  
*the number of actual crossover students was minimal, and the potential for additional crossovers was severely limited by a longstanding desegregation order;  and 
*there were, at most, a few relatively minor joint programs between the districts. Accordingly, the district court concluded that the county-wide election of local school board members under Plan C was unconstitutional as applied in Shelby County and enjoined its implementation."<ref name="burson"/> The lower court noted that in a similar case of ''Duncan'' (1995), it had held that "the relevant geopolitical entity for purposes of the "one person, one vote" analysis in cases such as this is the school district, not the entire county."<ref name="burson"/><ref>Duncan, 69 F.3d at 93.4</ref> When appealed, the lower court's decision was upheld, saying the "Constitution prevented the State of Tennessee from including Memphis voters in the electorate for the Shelby County Board of Education."<ref name="burson"/>

As a result, the County Commissioners established seven single-member special election districts in the county outside the limits of Memphis, for the purpose of electing school board members to the Shelby County School Board.

===Mayors===
Shelby County's first elected mayor was Roy Nixon, who served from 1976 to 1978. The current Shelby County mayor is [[Lee Harris (politician)|Lee Harris]], who was elected in 2018 after having served as the minority leader of the [[Tennessee Senate]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.shelbycountytn.gov/213/About-the-Mayor|title=About the Mayor {{!}} Shelby County, TN – Official Website|website=www.shelbycountytn.gov|access-date=February 3, 2020}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of mayors of Shelby County
!Name
!Term in office
!Party affiliation
!Previous office
|-
|[[Lee Harris (politician)|Lee Harris]]
|2018–present
|[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|Minority Leader of the [[Tennessee Senate]]
|-
|Mark Luttrell
|2010–2018
|[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|Shelby County Sheriff
|-
|Joe Ford
|2009–2010
|[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|Shelby County Commission Chair
|-
|[[A C Wharton]]
|2002–2009
|[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|Chief Shelby County Public Defender
|-
|Jim Rout
|1994–2002
|[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|Shelby County Sheriff
|-
|William N. (Bill) Morris
|1978–1994
|[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|Shelby County Sheriff
|-
|Roy Nixon
|1976–1978
|
|Shelby County Sheriff<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2019/06/03/roy-nixon-shelby-county-mayor-obituary/1333413001/|title=Roy Nixonm, first mayor to lead Shelby County, dies at 85|last=Burgess|first=Katherine|date=June 3, 2019|website=Memphis Commercial Appeal|access-date=February 3, 2020}}</ref>
|}
'''Notes''':

# Joe Ford served as interim mayor after A C Wharton's election as Mayor of Memphis in 2009.
# A C Wharton later served as Mayor of Memphis from 2009 to 2015.

===Shelby County Board of Commissioners===

* District 1: Amber Mills
* District 2: David C. Bradford, Jr
* District 3: Mick Wright
* District 4: Brandon Morrison
* District 5: Shante K. Avant
* District 6: Charlie Caswell, Jr.
* District 7: Henri E. Brooks
* District 8: Mickell M. Lowery
* District 9: Edmund Ford, Jr.
* District 10: Britney Thornton
* District 11: Miska Clay Bibbs
* District 12: Erika Sugarmon
* District 13: Michael Whaley

===Shelby County Courthouse===
The Shelby County Courthouse, in Memphis on Adams Avenue between North 2nd and North 3rd streets, was designed by [[James Gamble Rogers]] and completed in 1909. This [[Neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] pile features a long portico topped by a cornice supported by massive [[Ionic column]]s. The ambitious [[architectural sculpture|sculptural]] program designed by [[J. Massey Rhind]] includes the pediment groups, ''[[Canon Law]], [[Roman Law]], [[Statutory Law]], [[Civil law (common law)|Civil Law]]'' and ''[[Criminal Law]]''. Female allegorical figures can be found on the north facade cornice representing ''Integrity, Courage, Mercy, Temperance, Prudence'' and ''Learning.''  Flanking the main entrances are over-life-sized seated figures embodying ''Wisdom, Justice, Liberty, Authority, Peace'' and ''Prosperity.''

It is, by far, the state's largest courthouse. The courthouse was featured in the movie [[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|''The Silence of the Lambs'']] as the place where [[Hannibal Lecter|Dr. Hannibal Lecter]] was held and escapes custody.

<gallery mode="packed">
JMR-Memphis1.jpg|Justice
JMR-Memphis4.jpg|Authority
JMRMemphis11.jpg|Wisdom
</gallery>

The courthouse is included in the [[Adams Avenue Historic District]], listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="nrhpdoc-Adams">{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=80004481}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Adams Avenue Historic District|author=Herbert L. Harper|date=January 1980|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=May 17, 2017}} With {{NRHP url|id=80004481|photos=y|title=eight photos from 1979, including #6,#7 showing Shelby County Courthouse}}.</ref>