Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk yesterday announced his office will no longer prosecute those found in possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana, WPLN reports. Arrests and citations for marijuana are falling, but the percentage of those charged who are Black is rising. Funk addressed that issue, saying marijuana charges disproportionately impact minorities in the city and do “little to promote public health, and even less to promote public safety.” Funk also expects the new policy, which went into effect yesterday, to impact the city’s finances by eliminating jail housing expenses for those cases.

The Tennessee Bar Association will be closed tomorrow, July 3, in observance of Independence Day. The office will reopen on Monday at 8:30 a.m. CDT with all staff working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Applicants to the 2020 bar examination today filed a petition asking the state Supreme Court to waive the bar exam requirement and grant diploma privilege for those currently registered for the July 2020, September 2020 and February 2021 exams. The petition argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has “created exceptional circumstances in Tennessee which warrants emergency diploma privilege,” and includes impact statements from applicants on hardships they’ve experienced because of the pandemic, such as financial stress and housing uncertainty, increased child care and familial responsibilities and lack of appropriate study space. The petition also argues that exam administration is “uncertain, unsafe, and disparately impacts applicants.” Read the petition in its entirety here.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris today issued an executive order for an embargo on any new prisoners coming to the Shelby County Corrections Center and three other local prisons from any prison or detention facility outside the county, the Daily Memphian reports. The order takes effect immediately to try and limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but it does not apply to the Shelby County Jail or to admissions required by state or federal law. The order comes after 820 inmates and staff members at county facilities were tested for the virus, with six inmates and 13 staffers testing positive. Harris said his administration will take “an aggressive approach to protecting the inmates in our care.” Meanwhile, WPLN reports an additional 135 inmates at the Davidson County Correctional Development Center have tested positive for the virus after it was reported last week that 48 inmates and four staffers were positive. The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office says all inmates who tested positive are asymptomatic.

District Attorney General Neal Pinkston on Monday filed an affidavit in federal court calling out the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office for an alleged lack of cooperation with the criminal investigation of former deputy Daniel Wilkey, Times Free Press reports. The affidavit was filed in support of a motion by alleged victims of Wilkey who are suing the county for supplying dash camera videos to lawyers for the accused and the DA’s office, but not to lawyers for the plaintiffs. Pinkston claims his efforts to obtain a copy of the sheriff’s office policy manual, copies of all Wilkey’s 2019 dash cam footage and footage from other officers were intentionally made more difficult than necessary by the department. Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond denies those claims. Wilkey was indicted on 44 criminal charges in December, including six counts of sexual battery, two counts of rape and nine counts of official oppression. Many of those charges stem from four traffic stops.

The Tennessee Justice Center has named current board member Mika Moser as its new chief operating officer, the Nashville Post reports. Moser will join TJC full-time while on sabbatical as president of DirectorCorps, the publisher of “Bank Director” magazine. She will remain on DirectorCorps’ board of directors. “Mika’s considerable management skills and the strategic vision she has developed as a TJC board member will be an invaluable asset to our organization,”  TJC Executive Director Michele Johnsons said. “We are lucky to benefit from her knowledge and the talents she brings in her role as chief operating officer of TJC.”

After being turned down by two lower courts, a Shelby County group seeking election security reforms is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case on voting machines, the Daily Memphian reports. SAVE, made up of former and current Memphis officials, has sued Secretary of State Tre Hargett with the goal of changing the county’s voting procedures. The group contends Shelby County’s voting system has a “critical security breach” caused by unauthorized editing software, repeated Internet exposure of the system on election night when votes are transferred from satellite zones and the lack of a forensic audit to verify the system’s security. Specifically, they want Shelby to stop using AccuVote TSx DRE voting machines and system and are calling for the use of paper ballots with audits to limit the risk of breeches. SAVE has asked the high court to decide if they have standing to sue and to send the case to a federal district court for preliminary injunction in time for the fall elections.

Former American Bar Association President William Hubbard has been named the new dean of the University of South Carolina School of Law, SC Biz News reports. Hubbard will assume his new role on Aug. 1, succeeding Robert Wilcox, who is retiring after 34 years as a USC professor and nine years as dean. Hubbard is a partner with the Columbia, South Carolina, office of Nelson Mullins and earned his law degree from the law school he will now lead. In addition to serving as ABA president from 2014-2015, Hubbard is a past president of the American Bar Endowment and the American Bar Foundation and is the current chair of the board of directors of the World Justice Project.  

The 2019-2020 TBA membership year ends today, so it is important to renew your membership to ensure you continue receiving member benefits and services. In addition to TBA Today, members receive free, unlimited access to Fastcase online legal research, discounts on all TBA CLE courses and a subscription to the Tennessee Bar Journal. Take a few minutes now to renew your membership online or call 615-383-7421.

The Nashville Bar Association and the Lawyers Association for Women are joining forces to host 100 Years of Woman Suffrage: Honoring the Past, Looking to the Future, an event that will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The program will take place in the House Chamber of the Tennessee State Capitol where the pivotal vote was cast giving women the right to vote. Attendees will hear from Margaret Behm, Judge Martha "Cissy" Craig Daughtrey, Justice Anita Earls, Freda Player-Peters, Rebecca Price and Linda Wynne. The event will take place on Aug. 13 from 1:30 - 4 p.m. CDT. If an in-person event is not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers plan to hold the event virtually.