A bill that would allow Tennessee mental health therapists to deny care for patients based on the counselors’ personal principles is now on its way to Gov. Bill Haslam. The state Senate approved the measure (SB1556) in February and yesterday signed off on a language change that dropped religious beliefs and instead added the broader language of “principles.” The House approved the measure earlier this month. Haslam has said he wants to see the final version before deciding whether to sign it into law, The Associated Press reports. 

The U.S. Senate today confirmed Waverly Crenshaw to be a U.S. district judge for the Middle District of Tennessee, according to a post from Knoxville News Sentinel Washington reporter Michael Collins. The position has been vacant since December 2014. Nashville attorney Crenshaw was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2015 and unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee eight months ago. The Associated Press reports 27 of Obama's nominees to district courts and five to the appeals court remain in limbo. Edward Stanton III of Memphis is among nominees awaiting Senate approval; Stanton was nominated by Obama in May 2015 to serve as U.S. district judge for the Western District of Tennessee.

This appeal involves an inmate?s petition for writ of certiorari, in which he challenged a decision of the prison disciplinary board finding him guilty of drug possession. After reviewing the record of the disciplinary hearing, the trial court dismissed the inmate?s petition. We affirm.

Memphis criminal defense attorney Andre Wharton recused himself from the panel hearing the disciplinary case against Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, The Commercial Appeal reports. The Board of Professional Responsibility brought disciplinary charges against Weirich and Assistant District Attorney Stephen P. Jones; the board accuses the pair of breaking ethics rules in the 2009 murder trial of Noura Jackson. Russell Savory will replace Wharton to serve alongside fellow Memphis attorneys Thomas R. Branch and Thomas P. Cassidy Jr. on the panel appointed to hear Weirich’s disciplinary matter. 

An opinion issued today by Attorney General Herbert Slatery said the Republican-backed transgender bathroom bill could cost the state federal education funding, The Associated Press reports. The measure (HB2414) would require students in public grade schools and universities to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their sex as it appears on their birth certificates. “If only because the U.S. Department of Education, which is charged with enforcing Title IX, interprets Title IX to require that transgender students be given access to restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their 'gender identity' instead of their anatomical gender," Slatery wrote. Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, and Rep. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, requested the opinion.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended Shelby County lawyer Michael Barton Brooks from the practice of law for three years, retroactive to Dec. 3, 2015. He was summarily suspended on that date pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, Section 22.3, based upon his guilty plea to aggravated assault and vehicular assault. The order was effective upon entry. Read the BPR release. 

The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct issued a letter of public reprimand on March 23 to Nashville General Sessions Judge Allegra Walker regarding an e-mail she sent to members of the Davidson County District Attorney General’s Office. Walker told prosecutors in the email, sent in June 2014, what she would accept in her court pertaining to plea negotiations, such as agreed orders on domestics or multiple probation offers. “We acknowledge that there is no evidence your actions were conducted in anything other than good faith and not intended to disadvantage anyone accused of domestic violence,” the letter reads.