NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The legal fight over Tennessee’s 25-foot police buffer law is back on, after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday threw out a lower court order that had refused to block the law while the case moves forward.
The statute took effect in July 2025. It makes it a misdemeanor to come within 25 feet of an officer who is working a traffic stop, investigating a crime scene or responding to an immediate threat to public safety, once that officer has told the person to stop or move back. A conviction can bring up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.
A group of news-gathering organizations sued that same month in federal court in Nashville. They argue the law is so vague it violates due process and that it infringes on First Amendment rights in general and specifically for reporters covering police activity. Their lawyers say it lets officers keep journalists and the public back even when they pose no safety risk and are not interfering. The defendants are state Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Jeff Long, Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk and Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
A federal judge turned down the request for a preliminary injunction in February, finding the plaintiffs had not pointed to a specific case where the law had affected a reporter or anyone else.
A three-judge panel led by Chief Judge Kethledge said that call came too soon. The panel found the trial court skipped the question that matters most in a First Amendment case, whether the challengers are likely to win, and sent the case back, less than three weeks after hearing oral arguments on Oct. 21, so the judge can build at least a basic factual record on that and the other injunction factors.
The panel also rejected the state’s argument that the organizations lacked standing. It noted that officers regularly order reporters to step back, that no defendant had said those orders would stop, and that the police chief had only said his department would hold off on arrests under the law for now.
The opinion was not recommended for publication. The case now returns to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where the law remains in effect.
Section: More Nashville TN politics news
Filed under: Nashville TN Politics News
