How hard is it to make the case of not guilty by reason of insanity? Christopher Slobogin, director of the criminal justice program at Vanderbilt University Law School and associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, discusses the topic on the public radio show Here & Now. At issue is the trial of James Holmes, who opened fire in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado in 2012. He’s pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 166 criminal counts, including first-degree murder.

Law is the least diverse profession in the nation, author and law professor Debrorah Rhode writes in the Washington Post. She cites U.S Bureau of Labor statistics showing 88 percent of lawyers are white, opposed to 81 percent of architects and engineers, 78 percent of accountants and 72 percent of physicians and surgeons. Some firms are working to change that. In Nashville, Dickinson Wright PLLC was recently honored for its commitment to improving diversity within the profession, particularly in its summer/associate hiring. The Nashville Bar Association recognized the firm with its Diversity Committee 2015 Sponsorship Award at the NBA’s Annual Law Day Luncheon.

Obama administration attorneys today urged a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit by House Republicans over the president's health care law, but encountered plenty of skeptical questions, WRCB reports from the Associated Press. At issue in the case is some $175 billion the administration is paying health insurance companies over a decade to reimburse them for offering lowered rates for poor people. The House argues that Congress never specifically appropriated that money, and indeed denied an administration request for it.

Tennessee Supreme Court justices today questioned whether releasing third-party information used in the investigation of a rape at Vanderbilt University would create a too-broad precedent for public records law that would harm the victim and future crime victims. At issue is whether records reviewed as part of the police investigation of a campus rape in 2013 are public record or are exempt from disclosure because of victims' privacy protections and criminal court rules. A coalition of media organizations is seeking access to those records, including text messages sent between Vanderbilt University students and coaches after the rape. The Tennessean has more.

The Tennessee Bar Association will be closed Monday in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. The TBA will reopen Tuesday, May 26.

The natural-causes death of death row inmate Donald Strouth is the most recent example of problems with Tennessee’s death penalty and undermines the credibility of the criminal justice system, Sullivan County District Attorney General Barry Staubus said. Strouth had been on death row for more than 30 years, an appeal process length Staubus said is too long. Right now all executions in Tennessee are on hold because of a pending lawsuit where death row inmates, including Strouth, are questioning if the state's lethal injection process is constitutional. WJHL has more. On Wednesday, Nebraska lawmakers agreed to abolish the death penalty. The margin by which the bill passed in the unicameral state legislature is more than sufficient to override a promised veto by the state's governor, ABA Journal reports.

Last month the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar, upholding a Florida law that bans judges and judicial candidates from personally soliciting campaign donations. At issue was public confidence in the judiciary, given that lawyers and potential litigants are more likely than average citizens to donate to judges' campaigns. The Institute for Southern Studies created a map showing whether each U.S. state holds judicial elections and, if so, whether the state bans solicitation of campaign contributions by judges and to what degree.

The Certiorari Printer Supreme Court Press has named Baumgartner v. United States, to be its "Petition of the Month." The petition for writ of certiorari asks whether former Knox County Judge Richard Baumgartner can be convicted of concealing a crime under the federal misprision statute based on speech that occurred with individuals unconnected with law enforcement or an investigation. Specifically, federal prosecutors alleged that character references he made to help a person, whom he knew to be a drug addict, were acts of concealment. Virtual Strategy magazine has more.

A group called 'Southeast Nashville United' has declared its opposition to Mayor Karl Dean's plans to relocate the downtown Criminal Justice Center, the Nashville Scene reports. The plan calls for a new Metro police headquarters on Jefferson Street— which was met with strong opposition in the North Nashville community— and for a new $110 million Davidson County Sheriff's Office facility, including a relocated 800-inmate detention center, on Harding Place in the Antioch area.

A federal judge in Alabama ruled yesterday that same-sex couples have the right to marry throughout the state, but she put her ruling on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court decides the issue, WCYB reports from CNN. U.S. District Judge Callie Granade in Mobile had issued a preliminary injunction in February prohibiting the state Attorney General Luther Strange and Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis from enforcing Alabama's laws, which prohibit same-sex marriage. But the ruling was challenged by probate judges who refused to abide by it, and their argument was bolstered by a conflicting opinion by the Alabama Supreme Court.