Chattanooga defense attorney Robin Flores tells News Channel 9 that attorneys who defend people charged with DUI may now be able to challenge their clients' charges, thanks to the results of a newspaper investigation. Flores says a story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal indicates a loophole in the law is not being applied fairly to people charged with simple DUI, who apparently face more jail time than people who kill someone while driving drunk. Flores sees the Tennessee Supreme Court being asked to rule on the law, but ultimately says the legislature will have to close the loophole to make the DUI law more fair.

The partisan campaign to oust three Democrat-appointed Tennessee Supreme Court justices in the upcoming retention election has received national attention, GavelGrab reports. A Slate article profiles the Tennessee contest and its players, and voices alarm about another big-spending race that could threaten fair and impartial courts. “When judicial races turn into spending races, what suffers most is not Democrats or Republicans, but judicial independence and integrity,” Dahlia Lithwick writes in the article, "How to Take Out a Supreme Court Justice."

In response to a June 7 article, immediate past president of the Tennessee Bar Association Cindy Wyrick denounces state Sen. Janice Bowling’s accusations that the Board of Judicial Conduct is “failing to do its job” and that members of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission were “pressured” into changing their votes. Wyrick defends the integrity of the board’s members, stating “In reviewing the performance of judges, the commission makes a preliminary finding. Fairness demands that judges have an opportunity for a hearing to offer an alternate viewpoint. Similarly, judges and lawyers who have experience with the judges being evaluated should, and did, come forward to recommend a different result. The implication that it was unusual or improper for those opinions to be offered to the commission is simply false. The idea that Commission members succumbed to ‘improper influence’ is equally incorrect and untrue.” She goes on to state that the board’s counsel found no misconduct, based on a careful reading of the Code of Judicial Conduct. “Inappropriate and unnecessary distractions that unfairly call into question the integrity of the ethics process should, therefore, be viewed in light of the fact that they conveniently come during an election year,” Wyrick concludes. The Tennessean has the full letter.

After interviewing candidates, the Governor’s Commission for Judicial Appointments has submitted the following six nominees to Gov. Bill Haslam for the three openings on the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board: Catherine Bulle Clayton of Madison County, Aaron James Conklin of Rutherford County, Timothy Wade Conner of Knox County, Marshall L. Davidson III of Sumner County, David F. Hensley of Hamilton County and Dale A. Tipps of Rutherford County. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more.

First Judicial District Attorney General Tony Clark and Washington County Sheriff Ed Graybeal presented checks to two local domestic violence shelters yesterday, WJHL reports. Clark and Graybeal presented the proceeds from the April 26 Justice in Motion 5K run/walk to Safe Passage of Johnson City and CHIPS of Erwin. The checks totaled more than $5,000.

A report compiled by former U.S. Attorney Veronica Coleman-Davis says no one maliciously or wantonly allowed for the backlog of 12,000 rape kits that sat untested for years in Memphis. Instead of placing the blame on a single individual, the report, which was released yesterday, attributed the problem to “a general and collective failure to understand the importance of DNA testing as was reflected in common practices in place locally and nationwide,” Knoxnews reports.

The Senate yesterday confirmed the first openly gay black man to a top-level federal judgeship, voting 98-0 to make Darrin Gayles a district court judge in Florida. Senators also confirmed Staci Yandle, an openly gay black woman, for a federal district judgeship in Illinois and Salvador Mendoza, a Hispanic man, for federal district judge in Washington state. President Obama has appointed more female and Hispanic federal judges than any previous president, WKRN News 2 reports. "These milestones are important not because these judges will consider cases differently, but because a judiciary that better resembles our nation instills even greater confidence in our justice system" and can serve as a future role model, presidential counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in a blog post. 

The Chattanooga Bar Foundation selected new Fellows during the Chattanooga Bar Association’s annual Law Day celebration last month. The Class of 2014 Fellows are Frederick L. “Rick” Hitchcock, Marc H. Harwell, Mark A. Ramsey, Thomas L. Wyatt, Hugh F. Sharber, Virginia C. Love, John C. Harrison and Barry L. Abbott. The Hamilton County Herald has the story.

The National Association of Legal Professionals (NALS) Nashville Chapter will host its annual After Hours Silent Auction on July 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Baker Donelson. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. To volunteer or for more information, visit www.nalsnashville.com. To donate an item, please mail it to Tiffany Burford Taylor, Silent Auction Chairman, at Waller, 511 Union St. Nashville, TN 37219.