The annual Court Square CLE will be held in Columbia on Aug. 27. This year’s topics include an annual legislative update, best practices in labor law, and banking issues in probate law. Take advantage of this 3-hour CLE in Columbia or see details on our other Court Square CLE locations.

The National Civil Rights Museum held public visitation for Judge D’Army Bailey this afternoon from noon to 6 p.m. He died Sunday at the age of 73 after a long battle with cancer. The event drew citizens of all colors to pay their respects to Judge Bailey, including former Supreme Court Justice Janet Holder and former NBA and Memphis Tiger basketball star Elliot Perry. Services will be noon Saturday at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. The Commercial Appeal has more. 

The public approval rating for the U.S. Supreme Court has become more polarized along party lines than at any point in 15 years of Gallup polling, the ABA Journal reports. The approval rating among Republicans plummeted to a 15-year low of 18 percent, a drop of 33 percentage points since last summer, according to Gallup.com. The approval rating among Democrats, meanwhile, rose to 76 percent, a gain of 29 percentage points since last September and the highest in 15 years. Among all Americans, 49 percent approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog notes the findings. 

The State Capitol Commission decided to delay taking any action on whether it should move the controversial bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol, but the prospect still led to heated discussion outside of the meeting, the Tennessean reports. The commission appointed a subcommittee to establish a set of criterion to examine how the state will decide what monuments, including the Forrest bust, may remain, be removed from or become a part of the capitol collection.

A task force appointed by Gov. Bill Haslam to look at prison sentencing is considering recommendations for longer jail terms. The enhanced penalties under consideration by the Governor’s Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism would boost the prison population in Tennessee by four percent over a five-year period, according to a report by Vera Institute of Justice. The discussion occurs as the state already has prisons at capacity, struggles to control incarceration costs and deals with a shortage of correctional officers.“Not only will it not likely improve public safety, but it will increase our prison population when other states elsewhere are really looking at how they can try to reduce their prison populations,” said Dawn Deaner, the Metropolitan Public Defender for Nashville-Davidson County. The Tennessean has more. 

The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct has cleared Nashville General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland of allegations brought by fellow Judge Melissa Blackburn earlier this year. In an email to other judges in November, Blackburn describes Moreland as bullying women and throwing mattresses and papers in the mental health court offices. In a letter obtained by The Tennessean, the board wrote that it was the unanimous decision of the investigative panel that the “factual allegations in the complaint, which would have given rise to a potential violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct, did not occur.”

With rumors flying of a third novel by Harper Lee, sources are now hinting the famed To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman author may actually have a fourth, nonfiction manuscript titled, The Reverend. It supposedly chronicles the true-life story of Rev. Willie Maxwell, who was suspected in the deaths of various relatives, said Wayne Flynt, a professor of history at Auburn University who said he spoke to Lee's sister about the mysterious manuscript before her death. Years ago, Lee went so far as to interview a doctor about poisons to find out which could cause someone to die but not be found in an autopsy, according to Flynt. In March, The New Yorker similarly reported on the possibility of a book about the Rev. Maxwell. The family of Maxwell's lawyer shared with the magazine what they say is a chapter of the book Lee sent to the lawyer. WCYB has more from the AP.

Nashville lawyer Randy Kinnard with Kinnard, Clayton & Beveridge will donate proceeds from his book, Respect: Through the Eyes of Children, to the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee and Nashville CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children), LAS announced. Released last fall, the book is a collection of essays written by local students illustrating the definition of respect from a youth’s perspective.

The Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) has appointed eight new board members: Ronette Adams-Taylor, associate general counsel at Meharry Medical College; Mark Behr, professor of English Literature and Fiction Writing at Rhodes College; Marvin Berry Jr., motivational speaker and former TJC client; Nashville lawyer Robb Bigelow; Terri Lynn Casola, litigation paralegal and former TJC client; Justice Janice Holder, former chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court; Brad Morgan, associate director for the Institute for Professional Leadership at the University of Tennessee College of Law; and Jerry Taylor, attorney and partner at Burr & Forman LLP. The TJC also announced its new board chair, Mike Abelow, an attorney at Sherrard & Roe PLC.

A new bill introduced Wednesday in Kentucky would protect county clerks from civil and criminal liability if they refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Supporters of the bill said this is a matter of religious freedom, but opponents argued it would be a strike against equality and the law. The bill follows a lawsuit by the ACLU against Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis for denying all licenses to couples since the Supreme Court ruling, WSMV reports.