Say hello to Brooke Leeton! Part of the TBA CLE team, Brooke is the Education & Professional Development Coordinator, meaning she coordinates educational programming for attorneys in a variety of Sections, including Communication Law and Dispute Resolution. Working with the Executive Committees of these Sections, Brooke researches compelling subject matter to include in each group’s CLE programming and plans the events accordingly. She also creates professional development opportunities for attorneys to meet and share success stories, ask their colleagues questions or brainstorm solutions for complications that arise in daily practice. In addition, she helps coordinate the TBA’s Women in the Profession Committee. Her most irrational fear? Quicksand. Likely caused by the Swamp of Sadness scene in the movie Neverending Story!

The #TeamTBA series offers members a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the TBA and how each staff members makes the association run. Check back every Wednesday for a new staff profile in TBA Today and on the TBA's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith yesterday filed a lawsuit claiming his First Amendment rights have been violated by Tennessee courts refusing to hear his case, the Tennessean reports. Smith has exhausted his appeals through local criminal courts, appellate courts and the state Supreme Court, which yesterday declined to hear his case. “Thus, despite having evidence that proves that he is not the person who handled the murder weapon, Mr. Smith has been shut out of state court,” he now argues. The new filing takes the case out of state courts and into the Middle District of Tennessee federal jurisdiction. Smith is asking the court to immediately stay his execution and stay his case until the courts hear a full case on the evidence Smith says has been revealed by new DNA testing. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday night.  

The Knox County Board of Education has settled a monthslong lawsuit that led to the county’s school mask mandate, agreeing to pay $145,000 in attorney’s fees to the plaintiffs, the Knoxville News Sentinel Reports. The agreement between the parties says neither side is admitting wrongdoing, and the cost of the mediator will be split among the board, the families and the state. The end of the lawsuit also means the mask mandate in Knox County schools has expired. The lawsuit began in February after two Knox County families sued the board on behalf of students with disabilities for protection against COVID-19. With no court hearing, no legal precedent will be set on where universal masking falls under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Legislation that would make camping on public property a misdemeanor crime was yesterday cleared by the Tennessee House and now awaits Gov. Bill Lee’s signature. House Bill 978 would make camping on the shoulder, right-of-way, bridge, overpass or underpass of a state or interstate highway a misdemeanor offense, punishable by a $50 fine or community service. Sponsors Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, and Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, claim their bill would be a useful tool law enforcement could use to address homelessness. “This is not mandatory, but just gives them the ability to do so,” Bailey said during a Senate session. Critics of the measure say it effectively criminalizes homelessness. Democrats and some Republicans opposed the legislation, which last week cleared the state Senate with a 22-10 vote and the House yesterday with a 57-28 vote. The Tennessean has the full story.

With most legislative committees now closed, budget negotiations are ongoing from last weekend, and the state budget is expected to be released as early as tomorrow. After meeting with and educating legislators and the administration through the entire legislative session on the need to reduce or repeal the professional privilege tax, the TBA applauded Governor Lee’s proposal to reduce the tax by $100 in the previously released budget amendment, and we have continued to reach out to the Governor and House and Senate leadership to keep that reduction in the budget that is currently being negotiated. There are over 22,956 attorneys licensed to practice law in Tennessee; all of whom must pay the $400 professional privilege tax, regardless of their income, employment status or whether practicing law is their main profession. Eighty two percent of the lawyers who pay the professional privilege tax are Tennessee residents. We agree with Governor Lee when in his 2020 State of the State address, he called this tax “arbitrary and unfair,” and we will continue to push legislators to at the very least reduce this discriminatory tax.  Please take a second right now and reach out to your legislators and ask them to make sure the final version of the state budget includes the provision to reduce or eliminate the professional privilege tax.

Additionally, as you know, the Department of Revenue sent out the annual notice to all attorneys that they must pay the professional privilege tax today (talk about crazy timing).  Unfortunately, any changes made by the legislature to the professional privilege tax will not go into effect until next year; therefore, all attorneys are required to pay the professional privilege tax this year.

The White House has reportedly been vetting two female lawyers for a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Bloomberg Law reports. Public interest lawyer and former state counsel for the Biden-Harris campaign in Ohio, Rachel Bloomekatz, and Alexandra Schimmer, Denison University vice president and general counsel and former Ohio solicitor general, are both being considered for the opening. If nominated, Bloomekatz or Schimmer would replace Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. on the court. Cole was nominated by Bill Clinton and has served on the 6th Circuit since 1995.

Vanderbilt Law School’s spring “Dean’s Lecture Series on Race and Discrimination” will conclude on Thursday with a lecture on “Implicit Bias, Structural Bias, and Implications for Law and Policy” from Associate Justice Goodwin H. Liu of the California Supreme Court. Drawing on recent work convened by the National Academy of Sciences, Liu will discuss the evidentiary basis for implicit bias and structural bias, as well as possible legal responses and mitigation strategies applicable to a variety of institutions and organizations. The virtual event will take place on Thursday via Zoom from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. CDT. Learn more about the program and register here.  

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is no longer enforcing the federal government’s mask mandate after it was struck down by a federal judge in Florida yesterday, The Hill reports. Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle voided the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) directive yesterday, writing that the agency exceeded its statutory authority with the order requiring mask use on planes, trains and other forms of public transit. Days before Mizelle’s ruling, the CDC had extended the mask mandate for another 15 days, saying it was reviewing the impact of a recent spike in COVID-19 cases. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters earlier Monday that the ruling was “disappointing” and that the administration was reviewing the decision.

Stacie Odeneal, a child welfare law specialist from Lawrenceburg, has announced she is running to fill the seat on the 22nd District Circuit Court recently made vacant by the retirement of Judge Stella Hargrove. According to a release from Odeneal’s campaign, she is one of only 31 child welfare law specialists in the state and focuses on serving children and families in Lawrence, Maury, Wayne and Giles counties. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Odeneal says she has served more than 2,500 families in 15 years of practicing law. She’ll be running as an Independent on the August ballot. “I like my courts like I like America — Independent,” said Odeneal in the release. “In my courtroom, only the law and the facts can matter. You should be able to trust that to be true outside the courtroom as well.”

Tres Wittum, a research analyst for Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, has announced he is running for the open 5th District Congressional seat, the Tennessee Journal reports. According to Wittum’s campaign announcement, he has been active in state politics for more than 15 years, serving the Senate since 2011 in both the Senate Speaker Pro Tempore’s office and the Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee. Wittum joins a growing list of candidates seeking the Republican nod, including  Geni Batchelor, Jeff Beierlein, Natisha Brooks, Beth Harwell, Baxter Lee, Timothy Lee, Andy Ogles, Morgan Ortagus, Stewart T. Parks, Robby Starbuck and Kurt Winstead. Ortagus, Starbuck and Baxter Lee all face formal challenges with the Tennessee Republican Party, which prompted a technical removal from the ballot. The GOP executive committee by Thursday will vote on whether to allow them back on the ballot.