A July 4 protest outside the home of Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich could result in felony charges for some individuals, the Commercial Appeal reports. The protest happened late in the afternoon on Saturday when at least a dozen cars and roughly 40 protestors arrived at Weirich’s residence, yelling for her to come outside and chanting to end the money bail system within Shelby County. A video showed protestors firing Roman Candles towards Weirich's roof, which did not catch fire, removing flags from Weirch's yard, crossing a physical property line and subsequently setting those flags and another, larger flag, on fire. In an approved subpoena request, the Memphis Police Department asked for photographs from the Commercial Appeal, which it believes would help identify those who participated in the “attempted arson, arson, and theft of property.”   

Nashville attorney Abby Rubenfeld, who initiated the Tennessee marriage equality case Tanco v. Haslam in 2013, is being honored by the National LGBT Bar with the Leading Family Law Practitioner Award. That award is given each year to an individual who is in the private practice of law and has improved the lives of members of LGBTQ+ families, parents or children through outstanding legal work, demonstrated by a longstanding commitment to providing legal services of a high quality to the LGBTQ+ community. Rubenfeld started the Rubenfeld Law Office PC in 1979 and has been widely praised for her work in LGBTQ+ and AIDS-related issues and civil rights cases, all including an emphasis on family law. Rubenfeld will be honored during the virtual awards program on Aug. 12 during the 2020 Lavendar Law Conference and Career Fair.  

The Knoxville Bar Association will host the 19th Amendment at 100: Bold Women Change History virtual program on Aug. 19 from 11 a.m. – noon CDT. The event features a panel of noteworthy female lawyers and lawmakers, including TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson, Knox County District Attorney General Charme P. Allen, State Sen. Becky Duncan, Justice Sharon G. Lee and Wanda Sobieski of Messer & Elledge. The panel is part of the KBA’s Law Day celebration and will focus on the history of the 19th Amendment, the contributions of trailblazing women and what happens when we break down barriers. Find out more and register online.

Private prison company CoreCivic on Monday informed Nashville-Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall that it will no longer try to keep running a jail in Nashville, the Associated Press reports. For nearly three decades CoreCivic has run a facility that houses state inmates under a contract with the Tennessee Department of Correction. The CEO of CoreCivic wrote a letter to Hall on Monday telling him the company would be providing a 90-day transition plan for the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility and would no longer allow “political opportunists” to use it as a “punching bag.” That letter comes on the heels of Metro Council’s announcement last week that it would be renewing efforts to end the contract with CoreCivic. Hall said he had hoped for a six-month transition period, and is now working with officials to see what options exist.

The State Capitol Commission today voted to remove the controversial bust of Nathan Bedford Forest from outside House and Senate chambers and relocate it to the Tennessee State Museum, the Tennessean reports. The group had originally intended to only vote on the Forrest bust, but ultimately voted 9-2 to remove two additional busts of U.S. Admiral David Farragut and U.S. Admiral Albert Gleaves from the second floor of the Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, and House Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough both said they were representing the preferences of their chambers by voting against the removal. According to WPLN, the petition will now go to the Tennessee Historical Commission for a final vote, but it will not be considered for at least three months and the process could take as long as a year.

Nashville’s Metro Council is renewing its efforts to end the city’s contract with private prison operator CoreCivic, WPLN reports. A report saying the city would be on the hook for $35 million per year delayed earlier efforts to end the contract, but Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall is now saying the budget impact would be “minimal.” Details weren’t immediately available, but Hall said one possibility is that the sheriff’s office could assume control of the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility, currently run by CoreCivic, within two years and with a $5 million start-up cost for the transition. Councilmember Emily Benedict who is co-sponsoring the effort, wrote in a statement that CoreCivic’s profits are “based on imprisoning as many people as possible at the lowest possible cost because that is how they make money for themselves and their shareholders. The motivation of their business is profit, not people.”

Gov. Bill Lee yesterday issued an executive order extending COVID-19 civil liability protection to health care providers, the Tennessean reports. Lee’s executive order applies to health care providers like hospitals, nursing homes and the health care workers employed there. "This order provides limited liability protection, with respect to the services they render that are not considered gross negligence or willful misconduct," Lee said of the order. He also said state law only allows him to take such action for health care workers and that the legislature must still act to provide protection for other entities. Lee intends to call a special session, but did not say when that will occur.

Despite a Nashville judge’s order last month to expand absentee voting for all eligible voters, state officials say they plan to enforce a requirement that first-time voters who register by mail cast their ballots in-person, the Associated Press reports. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sought to block the in-person requirement in a court filing last month, saying it’s unclear if the judge’s order allows that group to vote by mail. The state responded last week, saying that it and county officials have moved forward under the expectation that the first-time voting requirement “would apply as usual in the upcoming elections.” If that requirement were blocked, the state says election officials would have to canvass all absentee ballot applications, identify those who were rejected because they were first-time voters who registered by mail and then contact those voters to re-submit an absentee ballot application—all before the July 30 deadline. It is unclear how many voters that would rule out for absentee voting before the Aug. 6 primary.  

Circuit Court Judge Justin C. Angel announced yesterday that the 12th Judicial District is set to receive $140,625 in new grants, the Chattanoogan reports. That award amount will go toward the installation of a new video arraignment system in the General Sessions and Circuit Court courtrooms throughout the 12th Judicial District, which includes Bledsoe, Sequatchie, Marion, Rhea, Franklin and Grundy counties. The district also received $159,815 from a Courtroom Security Grant earlier this year, bringing its grant total to $300,440. Judge Angel, who is presiding judge of the 12th Judicial District, says the new technology will save all six counties an “immense amount of time and money,” while also preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today issued an order cancelling the July 28- 29 Uniform Bar Examination, citing the increase of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state and in Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville where the July exam was scheduled to take place. All those registered for the July exam should now expect to sit for the Sept. 30- Oct. 1 exam, which is moving ahead as planned. President of the Board of Law Examiners Bill Harbison said in today’s press release, “We understand that this has been a difficult time for recent law school graduates and the Board is committed to making the Uniform Bar Examination available to all July 2020 applicants before the end of the year, absent any new “safer at home” orders or other significant changes.” Other states are making similar decisions, including Florida, whose Board of Bar Examiners yesterday canceled the July in-person exam, opting to instead administer an online exam in August.