A Georgia woman, Bianca Clayborne, has filed a lawsuit alleging her constitutional rights and those of her children were violated by Tennessee law enforcement officers and state social workers following a misdemeanor traffic stop last February. The lawsuit names four Tennessee Highway Patrol officers involved in the traffic stop, three Department of Children’s Services (DCS) caseworkers who obtained a court order to take the children, 10 Coffee County Sheriff Department officers who detained the family at the county’s jail and Coffee County, which is responsible its officers’ supervision and training, reports the Tennessee Lookout. The traffic stop for “dark tint and not actively passing” on Interstate-24 culminated in the arrest of Clayborne's partner, Deonte Williams, and all five children being placed in foster care for 55 days. In a search of the car, troopers found fewer than five grams of marijuana — a misdemeanor offense which typically receives a citation, according to the news source.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has declared that calls made with AI-generated voices are illegal. The decision comes after a fake robocall imitating President Joe Biden sought to dissuade people from voting for him in New Hampshire's Democratic primary election. Reuters reports that the FCC noted that state attorneys general previously could target the outcome of an unwanted AI-voice-generated robocall, but the new action makes the act of using AI to generate a voice in these robocalls itself illegal. On Tuesday, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined 50 other bipartisan attorneys general on the nationwide Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force in sending a warning letter to Life Corporation (Life Corp), the company allegedly behind the New Hampshire robocalls. “Using AI to spam voters’ phones with robocalls and inaccurate election information is illegal and fundamentally anti-American. Not to mention, it’s creepy,” Skrmetti said in a statement.

Jonathan Cole, a shareholder in the Nashville office of Baker Donelson, has been nominated by the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates as chair-elect of the 597-member policymaking body for a two-year term that begins after the Annual Meeting this August. The position is the second ranking officer in the ABA and serves as its chief policy officer. Cole has served as chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services and the ABA Young Lawyers Division, and he is past president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Nashville Bar Association. The HOD's 69-member nominating committee endorsed Cole over William D. Johnston of Delaware in a contested election during the ABA Midyear Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. See a photo from the meeting. In other leadership news, Wisconsin lawyer Michelle Behnke was nominated as the ABA's president for 2025-2026. The HOD will formally vote on her election at the August meeting.

A federal grand jury in Memphis returned a superseding indictment yesterday bringing new charges against three alleged members of the Unknown Vice Lords (UVL) — Ghost Mob, a criminal street gang, for causing the death of an individual through the use of a firearm during a crime of violence. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee, the charges are the first to be brought as part of the Memphis Violent Crime Initiative. As part of the initiative, the U.S. Justice Department's Criminal Division has dedicated attorneys and other resources to prosecuting violent offenders and assisting intervention, prevention and reentry efforts to address the root causes of violent crime.

More than a year after a report was released that was highly critical of Tennessee State University's (TSU) senior leaders, Republican lawmakers are moving to remove and replace the members of its governing board. Axios Nashville reports that the Senate Government Operations Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would vacate the board. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, said, "It has been made abundantly clear over the past few years that Tennessee State University is in need of a reset. A new board and a new president working in tandem will give the university the fresh start it needs." Sen. Charlane Oliver, D-Nashville, countered, saying many of the problems at TSU are tied to historic underfunding. A federal review found that TSU has been underfunded by billions of dollars. "We have wronged this university," Oliver said. "As a result of our failures, TSU's operations are in the state of affairs that they're in now."

The Board of Judicial Conduct on Tuesday issued a public reprimand to Shelby County General Sessions Judge Bill Anderson Jr. The reprimand addresses two matters, the first that Anderson raised his voice and was sarcastic to a Memphis police sergeant who appeared in court for a bond hearing at the judge's request. The board pointed out that "a party who is the subject of overly harsh or intemperate words may reasonably perceive that the judge is biased." The second matter concerned Anderson's statements made in a September Shelby County Commission meeting during which he stated that he "detest[s] the bail bond system in Shelby County. I detest it across the state." The board expressed concern that the statements could "undermine public perception and confidence" that a judge would approach cases "fairly and impartially, as well as undermine public confidence in the judiciary." The court noted that Anderson cooperated with its review and took full responsibility for his actions.

The TBA will hold an afternoon conversation with Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Holly Kirby and Justice Dwight Tarwater at Burch, Porter & Johnson in Memphis on March 7 from 2:30-4 p.m. CST. Moderated by attorneys Will Perry and Buck Wellford, the panel will discuss each justice's path to the bench, the importance of mentors, the manner in which the justices interact, the importance of the Rule of Law in our society, and more. The event will wrap up with a networking reception from 4:30-6:30 p.m. CST. Make plans today to attend this unique program and reserve your spot soon as space is limited. All members of the legal community are invited to attend the free reception. No reservation for the reception is required.

A bill introduced last year that continues to be debated in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee would remove protections for more than half of the state’s wetlands. The Daily Memphian reports that currently, developers must get approval from the state environmental agency before disturbing wetlands, but Rep. Kevin Vaughan, R-Collierville — the bill's sponsor and a developer in West Tennessee — called that “bureaucratic overreach” that inflates construction costs for developers and landowners. In Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that a wetland isn’t federally protected unless it connects to a permanent body of water, such as a river, lake or ocean, on the surface. In other House action, WSMV reports that Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, has introduced a bill to allow certain members of the public — law enforcement officers, retired law enforcement officers, and active and retired members of the armed forces — to openly carry a gun on any school campus.

TBA's Executive Director Sheree Wright took part in a panel discussion at the National Conference of Bar Presidents (NCBP), held during the ABA Midyear Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. The panel discussed the importance of organizational stability and ensuring a smooth transition when a bar association hires a new chief staff executive. Wright was joined by David Blaner, executive director of the Allegheny County Bar Association/Bar Foundation in Pennsylvania, and moderators Rick Kaplan, past president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and Erica Laughlin, past president of the Allegheny County Bar Association. See photos from the event.

Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, has introduced an amendment to the state constitution that would allow judges to deny bail to defendants accused of certain violent offenses. The Daily Memphian reports that the amendment prohibits the consideration of the defendant’s ability to pay in setting bail and expands the discretion judges currently have to approve or deny bail for the crimes covered by the 2022 “truth in sentencing” law, a mandatory-minimum law for violent offenses. It would require the judge to explain in the case record why they decided to grant or deny bail. The change would have to be approved by a simple majority of both chambers this year and by two-thirds of both chambers in 2025 before being placed on the November 2026 ballot as a yes/no question. “This is the extra added option judges need now,” House Majority William Lamberth, R-Portland, said. “Right now, a judge absolutely should not set a bond so high with the purpose of making sure somebody can’t get that. That is absolutely unconstitutional and wrong. If any judge is doing that, they’re going to get overturned.” The move comes after Sexton and other leaders announced a new effort in Memphis last week.