The U.S. Supreme Court has granted review of a range of cases for its next term, which will begin in October. The cases accepted include challenges to the Biden administration’s “ghost gun” regulations, the Food & Drug Administration’s denial of flavored vape products, and a Texas law requiring age verification for online porn sites. The court did not accept a challenge to an Illinois ban on certain semiautomatic guns, safety regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), or a teen sex abuse victim’s attempt to revive a lawsuit against Snapchat. Reuters has more on each of these cases.

Hamilton County lawyer Jennifer Yates Stickley was reinstated to the practice of law on June 28 after being on inactive status for more than five years. She was placed on inactive status on Jan. 31, 2006. The Board of Professional Responsibility determined that Stickley had satisfied all outstanding obligations to the Tennessee Continuing Legal Education Commission and her reinstatement petition was satisfactory.

Washington, D.C., lawyer Johnnie Daniel Bond Jr. has received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court found that while he was administratively suspended for failure to pay his annual fee and report on IOLTA funds, Bond was engaged in the active practice of law, including filing pleadings, appearing in court and entering agreed orders. During the suspension, Bond also advertised that he had law offices in Memphis and Nashville. These actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 5.5 and 7.1.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft has removed General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Sheila Renfroe from 28 cases she is presiding over amid allegations of bias from Melody Carlisle, an assistant public defender handling the matters. The Daily Memphian reports that Craft found that Renfroe took actions that were “clearly indicative of personal animosity," but he did not permanently ban Renfroe from presiding over other cases handled by Carlisle. Renfroe oversees General Sessions Division 9, which serves as the Shelby County Mental Health Court. She reportedly has had several tense interactions with Carlisle over the past year, including threatening to arrest her. Carlisle also has alleged that Renfroe is imbalanced and a danger to the community.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has put on hold a Nashville judge’s ruling that Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Election Coordinator Mark Goins ran afoul of federal law by not informing thousands of individuals convicted of felonies that they may still be eligible to vote. The appeals panel said that the ruling came too late in the election cycle to go into effect this year, Tennessee Journal reports. The decision comes in a 2020 lawsuit brought by the Tennessee chapter of the NAACP, the Campaign Legal Center, Brave Hearts and Baker Donelson law firm. Nashville-based U.S. District Judge William Campbell ruled in May that the state violated federal voting law and ordered it to develop new policies and procedures for processing felony voter registrations and train election workers how to follow it. State officials then asked the appeals court to postpone the changes until after this year’s elections. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a new warning for lawyers and law firms to be on the lookout for cybercriminals offering fake legal services to recover digital assets. Victims have reported losses totaling nearly $10 million in the last year. In one scam, a potential victim receives notification that a criminal investigation is pending against them for failure to report possession of a cryptocurrency to an anti-money laundering regulator. The consumer is then offered a settlement to avoid a criminal conviction and sent a link to pay. Experts say most victims will pay the fine and not tell anyone about it. Read more in a public service announcement from the bureau.

The Knoxville Bar Association and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, in partnership with Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET), will hold a Debt Relief Clinic on Aug. 17 to provide pro bono legal services to income-eligible consumer debtors in Knox, Blount, Loudon and Sevier counties. The clinic will begin at 8:45 a.m. EDT at the Knox County Public Defender's Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty St., Knoxville 37919. Volunteer lawyers will conduct initial meetings with the clients to discuss their situations and options. Those interested in helping should register online.

Nashville has seen a recent string of violent suspects who have been released from custody after doctors determined they were mentally unfit to stand trial, but not a risk to themselves or others. In several recent cases, such individuals are alleged to have committed additional violent crimes after release. Two new state laws go into effect today to try to fix the system by mandating mental health evaluations and treatment for misdemeanor offenders and requiring automatic commitment for anyone deemed mentally unfit to stand trial. The Tennessean reviews three, high-profile cases. In related news, the paper also looks at concerns that the new laws will leave more people languishing in overcrowded jails due to the state’s lack of treatment programs and staffing for psychiatric beds.

Tennessee's ELVIS Act (Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security) went into effect today, ushering in a new era of legal ramifications for those who abuse artificial intelligence (AI) in their music-making process, the Tennessean reports. The new law enacts voice protections against deepfakes and unauthorized uses of individuals’ voices and likenesses. The paper conducted a dozen interviews with lawyers, tech companies and music trade organizations to find out what experts expect to happen in the coming months. Common themes among their findings? The ELVIS Act will lead to onslaught of legal action.

A federal judge in Texas on Friday temporarily blocked a Biden administration rule that would extend mandatory overtime pay to millions of salaried workers. U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan said the rule improperly bases eligibility for overtime pay on workers' wages rather than their job duties. The decision prohibits the U.S. Department of Labor from applying the rule to state workers in Texas pending the outcome of a wider legal challenge by the state. According to Reuters, Texas is seeking to strike the rule down nationwide. In the meantime, the Nashville Business Journal looks at the impact of the new rule on the rest of the country.