For the ninth year in a row, the Tennessee Supreme Court is recognizing Attorneys for Justice, honoring all attorneys who provide at least 50 hours of service annually. The recognition program was created to encourage more attorneys and law offices to provide pro bono services to those who cannot afford legal costs, with a goal of increasing statewide pro bono participation to 50%. See the list of current Attorneys for Justice on the Supreme Court’s website.

The Supreme Court today overturned decades of affirmative action programs used in the admissions process by colleges and universities across the U.S. The Hill reports that the majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, invalidated admissions practices used by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, finding that they did not comply with the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. Roberts wrote, “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping and lack meaningful end points.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned the dissenting opinion, stating that the ruling’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment is “grounded in the illusion that racial inequality was a problem of a different generation. ... Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal.”

A federal judge issued a temporary partial injunction a Tennessee’s law banning certain gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The law, which was set to take effect July 1, would have banned transgender youth from accessing puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy, reports WPLN. Judge Eli Richardson wrote that limiting gender-affirming care for transgender children, but not for cisgender or intersex children, “imposes disparate treatment on the basis of sex.” The state argued that gender-affirming treatment does not improve mental health, but the judge’s ruling refutes this argument. The Daily Memphian reports that Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed an emergency motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee to reverse the preliminary injunction and notified the court that it would appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation announced Katherine "Kitty" Boyte as the fifth recipient of its Sue Ann Head Award for Excellence in Workers' Compensation. The award was presented to Boyte at a luncheon ceremony during the group's educational conference on June 15 in Murfreesboro. The award honors a professional who has or is currently making a lasting, positive impact on Tennessee’s workers’ compensation system.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin announced that the committee will mark up ethics legislation for the U.S. Supreme Court in July. The ABA Journal reports that Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, tweeted Wednesday that the Supreme Court “is in an ethical crisis of its own making.” Currently, federal trial-level and appellate judges — but not Supreme Court justices — are bound by the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. In February, the ABA House of Delegates called on the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics for its justices that is similar to the code for other federal judges.

Tennessee’s Community Corrections program for felony offenders is set to be renewed when a new law takes effect July 1. According to the Tennessee Lookout, the Department of Correction is believed to be assessing the program to determine its next step. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, and Sen. Ed Jackson, R-Jackson, placed “community-based supervision” back into state law and will allow Community Corrections to provide intensive probation, treatment and supervision for convicted felons who, otherwise, could be headed to prison.

Preliminary results in the House District 3 special election show that Timothy Hill of Blountville won the Republican primary election with 81% of the votes, according to unofficial results from the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office. Hill is filling the seat recently vacated by Scotty Campbell, R-Mountain City, who resigned after an internal investigation by a state subcommittee in late March found that he violated a discrimination and harassment policy. Hill will face Democrat Lori Love of Kingsport in the general election on Aug. 3.

Above the Law has released its annual Top 50 Law School Rankings. Vanderbilt Law School has dropped two places to seventh on the list, while the University of Tennessee College of Law has moved up five places to 43. See the full list of rankings here.

In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled that states cannot challenge the Biden administration’s guidelines for when to deport migrants from the country. The Hill reports that the suit from Texas and Louisiana challenged the Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement policies, which includes guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to prioritize certain immigrants for detention and deportation. The policy urges agents to focus on the most serious and violent criminals for deportation.

Former Memphis Police officers Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean have filed motions to have their cases tried separately from the other three officers who are charged in the beating and death of Tyre Nichols. The Commercial Appeal reports that both motions point to every officer being charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping — which were assessed for each of the scenes at which officers interacted with Nichols — and some of the officers were not at both scenes.