The American Bar Association (ABA) will offer a special Black History Month program on Feb. 29 at 2 p.m. CST. "The Business of Democracy" will feature special advisors to the ABA Task Force for American Democracy, former Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and past ABA President Paulette Brown, the first women of color to serve in that role. Topics will include corporate and social activism, the impact of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision on the business community, how lawyers can pursue a career path in the corporate sector, and more. Login to watch the program here.

A new report on the state’s juvenile criminal justice system from Disability Rights Tennessee and the Youth Law Center offers suggestions for preventing abuse inside detention facilities and setting kids up for success after they are released. WPLN reports that the recommendations are based on interviews with youth at the Wilder Youth Development Center. The report emphasizes the importance of reducing barriers between kids in custody and their families, given that phone time is limited, and some facilities have not allowed in-person visits to resume since the pandemic. The research found that most kids in detention facilities came into contact with the criminal justice system following some kind of crisis, and recommends improving access to resources and services such as health care or housing for those leaving a facility. Finally, it recommends establishing independent, third-party oversight of juvenile detention facilities.

The TBA’s International Law Forum will take place May 17 in Nashville. Save the date and watch the course registration page for more updates.

The Tennessee Supreme Court last week held that an arbitration agreement signed by a power of attorney as part of the paperwork for admittance to an assisted living facility was not a health care decision because it was optional and not required for admission. The court also concluded that the next of kin in the wrongful-death suit filed is bound by the arbitration agreement. In 2007, Granville Williams Jr. executed a durable power of attorney naming Karen Sams as his attorney-in-fact, giving Sams authority to act for Williams in “all claims and litigation matters” but not health care decisions. In 2020, Williams was admitted to Azalea Court, an assisted-living facility, and Sams completed the admission forms, including an arbitration agreement not required for admission. After Williams died, his son brought a wrongful-death lawsuit against two corporations that managed Azalea Court. Read more about the case, the majority opinion and dissenting opinions from Chief Justice Holly Kirby and Justice Sharon Lee.

The Memphis Bar Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Memphis Bar Association, has announced that Vincent Miraglia will serve as the 2024 board president. Miraglia has served on the board since 2019, most recently as vice president. Miraglia is an associate general counsel and chief legal ethics officer at Sylvamo. Prior to his role there, Miraglia served as chief counsel of information technology and global citizenship at International Paper and was president of the International Paper Foundation. He has more than 20 years of experience in corporate law, litigation, sustainability, labor and employment law, and technology law. He earned his law degree in 1995 from The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to decide a case testing the legality of excluding jurors on the basis of religion, reports Reuters. The court turned away a Missouri agency's bid to reverse a lesbian worker's win in a workplace bias lawsuit after three prospective jurors were excluded for citing their Christian beliefs. State officials had appealed after a lower court denied their request for a new trial. In the original trial, a jury sided with plaintiff Jean Finney in her suit against the Missouri Department of Corrections. The state argued that the removal of three jurists who expressed their religious views violated the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment promise of equal protection under the law.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that three Republican-led states will not be allowed to join an appeal that will decide the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, reports Reuters. Last month, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk allowed Missouri, Kansas and Idaho to join the lawsuit. The states will remain as parties in the underlying case. Today's ruling means they will not be part of an appeal of Kacsmaryk's preliminary order and a later appeals court order that put significant restrictions on mifepristone, including a ban on prescribing it by telemedicine and dispensing it by mail.

The Board of Judicial Conduct has released details about a public reprimand it imposed on Shelby County Judge Paula L. Skahan last week. The reprimand addressed two matters. The first involved "injudicious" comments Skahan made about the county’s formal district attorney and a trial judge. The second involved an ex parte conversation Skahan had about a case with the Shelby County District Attorney's office. The board found that the conversation suggested Skahan had predetermined the outcome of the case and directed the actions of the parties to reach a certain result.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined a bipartisan coalition urging the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to seek reform of the current practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). A PBM is a third-party company that functions as an intermediary between insurance providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers with the aim of reducing the cost of prescription medication. The group's letter urges Congress to pass the "DRUG Act" (S. 1542/H.R. 6283), "Protecting Patients Against PBM Abuses Act" (H.R. 2880), and the "Lower Costs, More Transparency Act" (H.R. 5378) to reform the way PBMs conduct business and bring more transparency to their work. Learn more in a news release from Skrmetti's office.

The U.S. Supreme Court has left in place the admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, which some parents claim discriminates against highly qualified Asian Americans. The Associated Press reports that the court’s order, over the dissent of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, ended a legal challenge to a policy adopted in 2020 to increase diversity at the elite public school. A panel of the federal appeals court in Richmond had earlier upheld the constitutionality of the admissions policy, which gives weight in favor of applicants who are economically disadvantaged or still learning English, without taking race into account. The effect of the new policy saw an increase in the percentage of Black students from 1% to 7% and Hispanic students from 3% to 11%, while Asian American students decreased from 73% to 54%.