Some state Republican lawmakers have been working to call for a special session.
This came just days after a directive from President Barack Obama that requires public schools to let students use bathrooms they identify with. If schools do not, they risk losing federal funds.
Transgender activists called the directive a big win. Some state lawmakers, however, disagreed.
"This is not a dictatorship. This is a republic," Representative Glen Casada said.
Casada, the House Republican Caucus Leader, has now been pushing for a special session. He said the goal of that session would be two-fold: draft legislation requiring the state to defend schools if they're sued for violating the Federal directive and secondly, urge the Attorney General to sue the Federal government.
"An unelected bureaucracy is dictating law," Representative Casada said. "It's unconstitutional. It' a threat to the sovereignty of the states, and it's time we stand up to the tyranny from this administration."
State law has required two-thirds of both House and Senate lawmakers to agree to a special session. Governor Bill Haslam can call for one himself.
Wednesday, however, Haslam seemed to imply he would not call for one.
"I'll be honest, I'm not certain what the strategy around the special session would be," Governor Haslam said.
Haslam said, while the directive was overreaching, it does not change how school districts have been handling bathroom policies. Because of that, Haslam said the state has no legal grounds on which to sue.
"You should go to court if somebody comes in saying you can't do what you're doing, and at this point our schools are doing what they did last month and last year," Haslam said. "Our advice is continue doing what you're doing in your local schools."
