Shelby County’s district attorney filed an emergency lawsuit against the state to block two new laws he claims illegally interfere with his office in connection with cases coming from the federal Memphis Safe Task Force, according to a statement.
District Attorney Steve Mulroy, a Democrat, contends the two measures, both signed into law May 7 by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, violate the state Constitution and long-held principles of “prosecutorial independence” by micromanaging the DA’s office and giving the state attorney general the authority to seek his replacement. He filed the lawsuit in Chancery Court in Memphis.
Both laws unconstitutionally interfere with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, which is established by the Constitution, and target Shelby County for “disparate treatment,” the statement says.
The Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act, sponsored by two Shelby County Republicans, Rep. John Gillespie and Sen. Brent Taylor, a congressional candidate and critic of Mulroy as “soft on crime,” requires the DA’s office to make reports every 10 days about the dismissal or settlement of charges filed by the federal task force, which was ordered by President Donald Trump last fall.
In the Tuesday filing, Mulroy said his office is being required to file the reports even though the task force is failing to provide important information on arrests and despite a decrease in Memphis crime after he took office and before the task force started working.