The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear cases in front of hundreds of young men participating in American Legion Boys State next week as part of the SCALES program (Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students.) Participants in Boys State are high school juniors who spend a week each May at Tennessee Technological University learning about the government by participating in educational activities that simulate local, county and state government roles. The justices will also visit the similar Girls State at Lipscomb University on Friday, the Administrative Office of the Court reports. 

Harrison D. McIver II, executive director/CEO of Memphis Area Legal Services, has been chosen to receive the 2014 Dorsey Award in recognition of exceptional work by a public defender or legal aid adviser. The American Bar Association established the award in honor of the late Charles H. Dorsey Jr., long-time executive director of Maryland's Legal Aid Bureau, and a champion of the poor and underprivileged. The award will be presented at the ABA Annual Meeting in Boston this August.

Robert Lawson Cheek Jr. was suspended from the practice of law on May 21 based upon his guilty plea of mail fraud. View the BPR notice.

In a recent editorial, the New York Times writes that judicial elections have always been “a bad idea” and that special-interest money has made it worse by greatly increasing the influence of corporations, unions and other interests with issues before the courts. The publication cites examples in North Carolina and Arkansas, where out-of-state money is being used to influence Supreme Court elections. “It would be nice to report that states are responding to rising special-interest spending by devising rules for judicial recusal to take campaign contributions into account,” the publication states. “But a new report on state recusal rules by the Center for American Progress suggests otherwise. It seems the best that can be hoped for is that voters will ignore untruthful attack ads when they go to the polls.”

The Tennessee Supreme Court has recently granted review to four cases. Two criminal cases involve jury instructions when a kidnapping charge is related to another felony, while a third criminal case pertains to judicial diversion. The civil case granted review involves expert testimony in informed consent suits. The Raybin-Perky Hot List has summaries of each case and offers a prediction as to how they may be decided.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday halted the execution of a Missouri inmate who had challenged the state's refusal to disclose the source of its lethal injection drug. The justices said a lower federal court needs to take another look at the case of Russell Bucklew, whose execution would have been the nation's first since last month's botched execution in Oklahoma, WJHL reports.

Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge W. Neil Thomas III has taken a medical leave because of an undisclosed medical condition, the Times Free Press reports. For the time being, the other circuit judges are handling Thomas' docket. If Thomas' absence is extended there are mechanisms for the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts to appoint a temporary judge to sit for him and handle his caseload, Circuit Court Judge Jeff Hollingsworth said.

Three public forums have been scheduled for candidates running for office in Wilson County. Judicial candidates will meet June 5 at 7:30 a.m. at Library Hall at Cumberland University in Lebanon. Candidates running for state Senate, state House, county commissioners on the west side of the county and the Wilson County School Board Zone 4 will meet July 10 at 5:30 p.m. at West Wilson Middle School in Mt. Juliet. Candidates running for state House, the county commission seats on the east side, Wilson County School Board Zones 2 and 5, and the Lebanon Special School District Board will meet July 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Winfree Bryant Middle School in Lebanon. The Tennessean has more on the events being hosted by the Lebanon-Wilson County Chamber of Commerce.

The Governor’s Commission for Judicial Appointments is now accepting applications for three vacancies on the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. Any interested applicant must be an attorney licensed in Tennessee who is at least 30 years of age, has a Tennessee law license, has at least seven years experience in workers’ compensation matters and will attend annual training on workers’ compensation. The deadline to submit applications to the Administrative Office of the Courts is noon CDT on June 2.

The Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) has announced that Judge John Everett Williams has been appointed chair of the organization. His term will expire June 1, 2016. Branch H. Henard III, Bethany Spiller, A. Randolph Sykes, Judge D. Kelly Thomas Jr., Mark Vorder-Bruegge, Judge Williams and Judge Thomas T. Woodall were reappointed to the governing board. Judge Glenn Wright has replaced Teresa Jones. View the updated membership list.