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.

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.  

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports at least 60 cases have been prosecuted in Knox County under the state’s “gang enhancement statute,” now deemed unconstitutional. The Tennessee Court of Appeals last week struck down the 2012 law that enabled harsher penalties for crime-committing gang members; the court said the measure's language was overly broad. Attorneys said the court’s decision could lead to new sentencing hearings for defendants whose penalties were enhanced. 

A lawsuit against General Sessions Court Judge Amanda Sammons filed while she was working as a prosecutor, in which she is accused of calling a woman in a custody dispute “a jerk,” was dismissed last week by the state Court of Appeals. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports the suit also claimed Sammons ordered deputies to "take that (expletive) to jail.” The woman’s suit against Sammons earlier had been dismissed, with the judge saying it did not rise to the level of "outrageous conduct" necessary to support the lawsuit. Sammons is currently the target of two separate investigations. 

The Tennessean reports former Metro Nashville Airport Authority official John T. Howard was sentenced today to two years in federal prison stemming from charges of money laundering, wire fraud and accepting a bribe. Howard was also ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution. According to the information filed by the government, Howard filed work orders and approved payments for airport contractors to do work that was never performed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office sought between 57 and 71 years in prison for Howard based on the federal sentencing guidelines.

U.S. Circuit Judge H. Ted Milburn of Signal Mountain died on April 1. After graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1959, Milburn practiced law in Chattanooga and became a partner at Bishop, Thomas, Leitner, Mann and Milburn. He was appointed by Gov. Winfield Dunn to be a judge in Tennessee Circuit Court, Division III, Hamilton County in 1973 and won re-election to the position for two more terms. Milburn was later appointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan as the U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee sitting in Chattanooga; the next year, Reagan appointed him to a newly created seat as a U.S. Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He served on the court until 1996 when he took Senior Status. Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers can be sent to Grace Episcopal Church, 20 Belvior Ave, Chattanooga, TN, 37411. Condolences may be posted online or shared with the family via e-mail.