Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Tennessee

Re: TN. locksmith licensing law

Probably nothing. I sympathize with your plight, but you don't have a property interest in a license for which the state has deemed you ineligible. The analysis would be different if you already had a license but became ineligible due to a change in the criteria. The fact that you don't yet have a license is a crucial difference.

My answer might be different if the state's rules seemed arbitrary, but they don't. Ruling out thieves and burglars is rational since the skills required to be a locksmith are useful in committing those crimes. It would be rational to exclude rapists and murderers as well, but a system that allows them to be locksmiths is also rational. That they are allowed to get a license while you are not is surprising but not illegal. When the legislature has several legal, rational options available and chooses one of them, courts will not intervene. After all, making such decisions is what the legislature is for.

Pardons are entirely discretionary. The governor never has to grant one. Whether a particular application presents a sufficiently compelling justification is for him to decide. That a pardon would significantly improve your business prospects is not unusual; the same is true for most other ex-felons. Your situation differs from others in the particulars, but the governor evidently did not consider those particulars important enough to justify a pardon. That's his call, and I'm afraid you're stuck wit it.

I wish I could be more encouraging. Your situation does indeed seem unfair. But the law does not always require fairness. The state has rationally decided that certain categories people should not be allowed to work as locksmiths, and you fall into one of those categories. Forcing it to license you anyway would undermine its authority to regulate your industry. Since it is not taking away a license you already have, it is not depriving you of a property interest.

Perhaps there is a way to sell your existing business to a licensed locksmith. That's not an ideal solution, but it is better than just walking away from what you have built.

Good luck.