Attorney General Herbert Slatery has asked the Tennessee Supreme Court not to hear an appeal from a coalition of media agencies seeking the release of certain records in the Vanderbilt rape case. The Tennessean-led coalition in November requested the Supreme Court reverse lower-court decisions barring access to records such as third-party text messages and videos. The state's 14-page filing cites at least three other cases in which courts prevented review of third-party documents or entire court files while investigations were ongoing. The attorney general refutes claims from the media group that withholding the records would create a blanket exception to public records law.

Tennessee is fighting to keep marriage in the Volunteer State between "one man and one woman,” the Tennessean reports. Attorney General Herbert Slatery asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to accept the case of same sex couples in Tennessee and three other states who petitioned the court to reverse a November appeals court decision upholding the states' bans on same sex marriage. Tennessee’s stance is in contrast to the other three states, where government attorneys have agreed the Supreme Court should weigh in.

An article in BigThink ponders whether U.S. Supreme Court justices lack enough diversity of socioeconomic class and career background to understand the average, blue-collar American worker. All nine sitting justices attended either Yale or Harvard law schools; eight once sat on a federal appellate court and five have done stints as full-time law school professors. “With their sterling legal credentials and cloistered path to the bench, none of the justices have had much of a chance to live the life of an average American worker,” the article states. “None of the justices have spent time working in factories or warehouses or toiling in low-paying jobs.”

Freedom-from-religion advocates are pressing Tennessee and six other states to remove provisions from their state constitutions that prohibit people who don't believe in God from holding public office. Such bans are unenforceable, according to a 1961 Supreme Court decision. The high court ruled unanimously in a Maryland case that states can’t have a "religious test" for public office. Knoxnews has more.

Real estate mogul and Democratic fundraiser Bill Freeman today announced he will run for mayor of Nashville, ending months of speculation and dramatically reshaping the contest for Metro's top job. Freeman, who chairs Freeman Webb Co., is positioned to self-finance much of his campaign if he wishes, the Tennessean reports.

Metro Nashville officials are exploring relocation of the Criminal Justice Center, which real estate brokers say is on a prime development property. Possibilities include consolidating the Sheriff's operations, including detention centers, at property on Harding Place near the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility. Renovation and relocation costs are being assessed with a recommendation due before Mayor Karl Dean's budget presentation in the spring. Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall favors relocating the jail, which houses 800 inmates. The Tennessean has the story.

President Barack Obama yesterday signed into law a measure that bars suspected Nazi war criminals from receiving U.S. Social Security benefits. An Associated Press investigation, which was the impetus for the No Social Security for Nazis Act, found that dozens of former Nazis collected millions of dollars in retirement benefits after being forced to leave the United States. WRCB reports.

The government is now interpreting federal law to explicitly prohibit workplace discrimination against transgender individuals, the Obama administration announced yesterday. That means the Justice Department will be able to bring claims on behalf of people who say they've been fired by a public employer based on gender identity. In defending lawsuits, the federal government also will no longer take the position that the Civil Rights Act does not protect against workplace discrimination on the basis of gender status. The Daily Times has more from the Associated Press.

Davidson County Chancellor Russell Perkins today heard arguments in a lawsuit challenging the Tennessee Department of Transportation's (TDOT) decision to approve plans for a double pipeline being built by US Nitrogen. In September, a group of six property owners in Greene, Cocke and Jefferson counties filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, asking TDOT to defend in court its granting rights-of-way permits to allow US Nitrogen to construct the pipelines. The Greeneville Sun has the story.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday cut short the prison sentences of eight federal drug offenders, part of an administration initiative to foster equity in criminal sentencing, the Crossville Chronicle reports from the Washington Post. Four of the offenders had been sentenced to life in prison. All will be released next year. The commutations are part of an administration push to increase the number of clemency requests it reviews from low-level, nonviolent inmates - many of whom are serving long sentences based on tough federal sentencing guidelines that have since changed.