The Beacon Center of Tennessee filed a lawsuit claiming a Nashville city ordinance violates a homeowner’s property rights and unfairly burdens homeowners who use short-term rental sites, like Airbnb, but do not live in their home. The ordinance places a 3 percent cap on non-owner occupied rentals in any single neighborhood, which is determined by census tract. The Tennessean reports the lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Nashville couple after they were told they could not obtain a short-term rental permit because the maximum number of non-owner-occupied rentals in their neighborhood had already been met.

A Kentucky county clerk's request to suspend a federal injunction requiring her to provide marriage licenses was denied by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, WBIR reports. “It’s not terribly surprising,” Dan Canon, a lawyer representing Rowan county couples who attempted to obtain marriage licenses, said. “It’s correct and yet another reaffirmation that clerks have to abide by the rule of law just like everybody else.” 

The Tennessee Supreme Court publicly censured Chattanooga attorney Barbara Sims Arthur on Aug. 25. The BPR filed a petition of discipline against Arthur based on two complaints, including her filing of two Chapter 13 Bankruptcy petitions when she had not been reinstated to practice in Bankruptcy Court following a previous suspension. Read the BPR release.

Vanderbilt Law School’s Social Justice program was named in honor of Nashville civil rights attorney George E. Barrett, a 1957 graduate of the law school who passed away in 2014. The George Barrett Social Justice Program, established by a gift from Vanderbilt law graduate Darren Robbins, will support students pursuing social justice careers. “I am so grateful to Darren and so honored to be able to recognize George’s tremendous legacy. This is a fitting recognition of George’s lifelong dedication to the public interest," Chris Guthrie, Vanderbilt Law School dean, said. Barrett filed one of his most significant cases in 1968, Geier v. Tennessee, which resulted in the desegregation of Tennessee’s state universities.

West Tennessee State Penitentiary Warden James M. Holloway said correctional officers should be detained if they remove scheduling information from prison grounds, The Tennessean reports. “While such may be an attempt to help their cause, it is not authorized and can compromise the security and safety of staff who are working,” Holloway wrote in a letter. Multiple media sources used scheduling information to highlight staffing issues at Tennessee prisons. 

Jeff Wicks has applied for the Ninth Judicial District criminal court judge seat that is being vacated by E. Eugene Eblen, according to the Roane County News. Wicks has been a general sessions court judge in Roane County since 2006. “I enjoy criminal law, and I believe that my background and experience have prepared me for this position,” he said.

Rutherford County's Recovery Court could suffer long-term effects from the loss of a Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office Grant, The Daily News Journal reports. Court coordinator Trey King told the Public Safety Commission Monday that the loss of the $60,000 grant was not due to any issue on the drug court’s side. King said the drug court program keeps DUI offenders out of jail, a benefit he highlighted in light of jail overcrowding reports. 

Learn technology tips and tricks for practicing law while out of the office in the Sept. 22 webcast scheduled to begin at noon CDT. The one-hour presentation will include information on securing mobile devices and connecting to an unsecured WI-FI connection. The program offers one hour of CLE.

Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ruled Wednesday that the state’s lethal injection protocol is constitutional, The Tennesean reports. Bonnyman said a group of condemned inmates and their attorneys did not prove during trial that the single lethal-injection protocol creates risk of cruel and unusual harm. The decision does not immediately allow executions to resume after a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling earlier this year put them on hold until the final disposition of the case.

The ruling comes the same day as U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate issued a temporary restraining order blocking the state of Mississippi from using two drugs – pentobarbital or midazolam – in executions, The Commercial Appeal reports. Prisoners there also claimed they face risks of excruciating pain and torture during an execution. 

Law school enrollment has fallen, but not enough, the author or “The Lawyer Bubble," writes today in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog. Steven J. Harper says government guaranteed student loans should be tougher to get and should be tied to an individual school’s employment data. He recommends a sliding scale funding formula that punishes the worst-performing schools. Harper also faults the 2014 ABA task force created to address the problem, saying more changes are needed to hold law schools accountable.