A poll done by an adviser to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander shows the senator holding a 29-point lead in the Republican primary, the Tennessean reports. Alexander stands at 53 percent in a ballot test conducted July 27-29 by North Star Opinion Research. State Rep. Joe Carr, who received support from radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham, stands at 24 percent and Memphis physician George Flinn stands at 5 percent. Carr says the race is much closer, however. He cites a poll taken earlier this month on behalf of Tea Party Nation that showed him seven percentage points behind Alexander.

Dickson Municipal Court Judge Reese Holley asked the Dickson Council to consider upping his $24,000 annual salary, the Tennessean reports. Holley reminded council that the only time an elected official can request a change is at the beginning of a new term. He is unopposed for municipal court judge in the upcoming August elections.

Vacancies on U.S. courts of appeal have declined from 16 on Jan. 1, 2013, when President Obama was beginning his second term, to eight vacancies this week, Gavel Grab reports. Not since 1990 has the vacancy rate been so low, approaching 4 percent. Law Professor Arthur Hellman of the University of Pittsburgh said that part of the decline in vacancies is due to a change in Senate filibuster rules.

Amid the battle to challenge three incumbent Tennessee Supreme Court justices, the Nashville Business Journal takes a look at what is at stake for businesses. Charles Grant, an attorney at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz and president of the Nashville Bar Association, said keeping the courts nonpartisan and independent is paramount. Ensuring that independence in the court is key for businesses, he said, because "businesses rely on precedent and expectations." "No business wants to be in court where it is uncertain whether the court is independent," Grant said. "When you do not know what is motivating the court because it is not demonstrably independent that causes uncertainty ... that undermines business expectations."

What is supposed to be a non-partisan race is turning into one of the most heated contests in next week’s election, WBIR reports. Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee have fought back against an attack campaign led by Lt. Gov, Ron Ramsey to oust them from the bench, prompting record-breaking spending. The Brennan Center for Justice, a national watchdog group, said campaign spending has eclipsed $578,510 and that's only a small portion. Some expect the total to double once more numbers are released. Figures released yesterday show Justices Clark, Lee and Wade as well as an independent group, Tennesseans for Fair Courts, have spent about $316,000 on TV ads so far. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Forum and the State Government Leadership Foundation, a national Republican group, have spent a combined $254,890 on television attacking the justices. That's not counting money spent on radio, direct mail, phone banking and other efforts by these groups and others, a list which includes the Tennessee chapter for Americans for Prosperity, a national group affiliated with the billionaire conservative Koch brothers, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

A federal appeals court ruled against a law that would have shut down the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi—contending that it is not right to simply pass the buck to other states, WREG reports. Mississippi House Bill 1390 requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Two of the three doctors at the Jackson Women’s Health Organization were denied admitting privileges by seven hospitals in and around Jackson, not because of their qualifications, but  because their "medical practice is inconsistent with" the hospitals' practices. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state could not impose a regulation that would effectively close the only clinic in Mississippi despite the state claiming residents could still get an abortion in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama or elsewhere.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who gave a blistering 35-page dissent in the Hobby Lobby birth control case last month, said that the male justices have a “blind spot” when it comes to women. When asked by Katie Couric in an interview if she believed the male justices truly understood the ramifications of their decision, Ginsburg said no but believes they can change. "I am ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow," she said. The Chicago Sun Times has the story.

The Department of Justice is recommending raising the minimum age for those who can be tried as adults as a controversial solution to reducing violence in Memphis, WREG reports. The agency is recommending juvenile courts raise the age of teens they serve from 18 years old to somewhere between 21 and 24 years old. Shelby County Juvenile Court chief administrator Larry Scroggs said 21 would be a good compromise since cutting services off at 18 is too early.

Immigration courts are speeding up hearings for the tens of thousands of Central American children caught on the U.S. border after criticism that the backlogged system is letting immigrants stay in the country for years while waiting for their cases to be heard. There are 375,000 cases before the immigration courts, and many immigrants wait months or years for a hearing. Instead of bumping children to the back of that long line, the courts are now giving each child an initial court hearing within three weeks, according to the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review. A spokeswoman for the courts didn't answer questions about how many children's hearings had been set under the new plan or which courts had scheduled additional hearings. The Daily Times has more.

The Hamblen County Bar Association is unanimously supporting the retention of Tennessee Supreme Court Justices Gary Wade, Cornelia Clark and Sharon Lee in the Aug. 7 election, the Citizen Tribune reports. “The Hamblen County Bar Association would urge voters to ignore the false and misleading advertisements, mailers, robo-calls and TV commercials which have been sponsored, in whole or in part, by “dark-money” groups and instead vote to keep partisan politics out of our courts,” officials stated. In Washington County, bar association members voted to support retention of the justices and to work to help educate the public about the significance of the election, and late this afternoon former Justice William Koch, a Republican, added his endorsement during a Knoxville campaign event.