The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands is now accepting applications for a lawyer to work out of Nashville's Shade Tree Clinic, a medical legal partnership clinic that is staffed by medical students from Vanderbilt University and Meharry Medical College. The Tennessean reports that the position is being vacated by Chay Sengkhounmany who is going into private practice. Download a job description.

U.S. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said yesterday that his staff is routinely blocked from getting access to documents it needs for audits and reviews of the department and its law enforcement agencies. The interference causes delays in investigations and has several times required the intervention of Attorney General Eric Holder or his deputy to ensure that the records are ultimately turned over, Horowitz told members of Congress. After the hearing, the FBI denied that it hindered investigations and said it has worked closely with the inspector general. WRCB has more from the Associated Press.

The Rutherford County Judicial Building was evacuated late Tuesday afternoon after a potentially hazardous material was reported. Authorities were called to the building, located on the square in downtown Murfreesboro, after an employee on the third floor, who was checking the mail, suffered some sort of allergic reaction. Immediately after the call went out, the entire building was evacuated as a precaution. It was later determined the clerk's symptoms were not caused by the mail, WKRN reports.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs) A. William Mackie, Perry H. Piper, Gregg L. Sullivan and Jeffrey E. Theodore of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee were four of the 243 Department of Justice employees recognized by Attorney General Eric Holder at the 30th annual Director’s Awards Ceremony in Washington D.C. U.S. Attorney Bill Killian, who oversees the four, praised them saying, “The awards given to these particular AUSAs highlight their accomplishments and achievements in cases involving national security concerns, the highest priority for the Department of Justice. It is gratifying that these AUSAs are recognized nationally for their exceptional work.” The Chattanoogan has more.

Mistakes in Gov. Bill Haslam’s office caused 79 bills to become law without his signature and another 67 measures to have to be backdated, Tom Humphrey reports in his blog. Under the state constitution, the governor must either sign or veto bills within 10 days (excluding Sundays) of receiving them from the legislature, or they become law without his signature. Internal documents confirm that Haslam had approved the 67 bills within the 10 days, but a staffer incorrectly dated the signature. The bills were recalled from the Secretary of State to correct their signature dates. The 79 bills that became law without Haslam's signature also were recalled. An addendum was added to each to clarify that Haslam’s signature had come after their effective date. Haslam spokesman David Smith said some of the confusion stemmed from Good Friday wrongly being counted as a state holiday. “It was a technical mistake that didn’t have an impact on the outcome of any legislation and was quickly corrected,” Smith said in an email Tuesday. Knoxnews has the story.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will provide free legal assistance to TennCare applicants whose applications have been inordinately delayed. The announcement comes on the heels of a Sept. 2 preliminary injunction ordered by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell requiring TennCare to provide a hearing for any individual who has proof they applied more than 45 days ago — or 90 days ago for disability cases — and has not yet received a decision. The injunction came in response to Wilson v. Gordon, the first challenge of a state’s refusal to implement the Affordable Care Act.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee will be formally installed as chief justice of the court at a ceremony in Knoxville next Wednesday. The investiture will take place at 1 p.m. EDT in the Historic Post Office Building located at 505 Main St. Gov. Bill Haslam will administer the oath. A reception will follow. Justice Lee was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2008 by then Gov. Phil Bredesen. She will be the third woman to serve as chief justice. Download a press release with more details from the AOC.

The Governor’s Commission on Judicial Appointments today interviewed candidates for a vacancy on the 30th Judicial District Chancery Court and voted to submit the following three nominees to Gov. Bill Haslam: Oscar C. Carr III, James Robert Newsom III and William Michael Richards. The vacancy was created by the appointment of Chancellor Kenny Armstrong to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The AOC links to the candidates' applications.

Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris says that last month’s heated fight to unseat three Supreme Court justices has likely shot Amendment 2 in the foot, the Nashville Post reports. Aggressive advertising aimed at unseating the justices in the August primary election hurt both those who wanted to push out the justices and those urging voters to constitutionalize much of the state’s method of selecting them, he said. “If you get an ad that says, ‘Oh, we don’t want this in Tennessee,’ when that’s exactly a plateful of what we were just served, that can backfire,” Norris stated.

Dan Howell will be sworn in during an official ceremony on Monday as the new state representative for House District 22, filling the remaining term of Republican Rep. Eric Watson, the Chattanoogan reports. The ceremony will be at 1 p.m. in the House chamber in Nashville. Howell won the Republican primary for the seat in May and will not face a Democrat challenger in November.