Shelby County District Clerk Wanda Halbert has filed a motion to dismiss the most recent motion to remove filed against her. During her previous motion to remove, Shelby County District Court Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson denied her original motion to dismiss.
Corbin-Johnson denied that motion, saying it was premature, adding that a motion to dismiss was not an appropriate response to a petition to dismiss. Halbert was allowed to file a response after the motion to dismiss was denied, and later filed another motion to dismiss.
In the new filing, Halbert’s lawyers claim that Robert Meyers, the attorney hired by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, lacks the authority to file the motion to expel.
Meyers was retained by the county attorney’s office because it believed there was a conflict of interest in working on Halbert’s removal. The same argument was made by Halbert’s attorneys in an earlier removal initiated by Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp.
“…Plaintiff’s complaint shows on its face that it does not have subject matter jurisdiction to bring this instant action against Defendant for the following reasons,” the motion to dismiss states. “(A) Robert Meyers, a private attorney, is not authorized to act on behalf of the District Attorney; (B) there is no statutory provision permitting Robert Meyers, a private attorney, to act on behalf of Shelby County; (C) the Shelby County Code of Ordinances does not support Deputy Chief Lee Whitwell’s decision to engage private counsel to represent the government of Shelby County; and (D) the Shelby County Code of Ordinances cannot override state law.”
In both this and the previous motion to dismiss, Halbert’s attorneys argue that the only people who can file a motion to remove him are the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, and the Shelby County State’s Attorney’s Office. Both the State’s Attorney’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office have stated that they believe they have a conflict of interest in seeking to remove Halbert.
The Attorney General’s Office has stated that it will not intervene in the proceedings. When asked if the office would take over the proceedings, the office’s chief of staff said that “political inconvenience to a district attorney is not sufficient reason for this office to become involved.”
To argue that Whitwell lacked the authority to hire outside counsel, Halbert’s attorneys point to the Shelby County Code of Ordinances and argue that the county attorney’s office needed approval from the Shelby County Board of Commissioners to hire outside counsel for the expulsion motion.
“…Plaintiff has not claimed to have the approval of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, has not presented a resolution passed by the Board of Commissioners, nor has he presented a letter from the District Attorney certifying to the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners that ‘the total award for this case and related cases will not exceed $50,000.00 in the aggregate,'” the motion to dismiss states.
The motion to dismiss also relates to a case against former President Donald Trump in Florida, in which Trump was accused of taking confidential documents with him before leaving the White House. The case was dismissed because the U.S. Senate had not appointed a special prosecutor.
This is the state’s second request to remove Halbert from office. The first request was denied because Corbin-Johnson said Wamp did not have the authority under state law to make the impeachment motion.
Halbert has been on the hot seat for years, starting in 2022 during her re-election campaign when the clerk’s office had to close several times to work through a backlog of auto dealer packages. Since then, the office has been plagued by multiple office closures, incorrect financial reports and failure to collect the county’s increased vehicle tax.
Brooke Muckerman is a government reporter for The Commercial Appeal. Reach her at [email protected]
