Alix Rogers, assistant dean for career and professional development at Belmont University College of Law, has been named at "Top 40 Young Lawyer" by the American Bar Association (ABA). The On the Rise program recognizes ABA young lawyer members who exemplify a broad range of high achievement, innovation, vision, leadership and legal and community service. Rogers leads the Career and Professional Development Office at Belmont Law, where she helps students build their professional identities and prepare for success in an evolving legal profession. Rogers serves as the Middle Tennessee governor for the TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) and the Tennessee Young Lawyer delegate to the ABA House of Delegates, and is vice chair of the TBA Mentorship Committee. Last year, she co-created the TBA YLD's Rural Judicial Fellowship. Read more about her background and see the full list of honorees.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston recently barred most of President Donald Trump's first elections executive order, converting a year-old preliminary injunction into a permanent ban. The Tennessee Ledger reports that Casper ruled that Trump's order — which sought to require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, reject late-arriving mail ballots and withhold federal funds from noncompliant states — violated the separation of powers, since the Constitution grants states and Congress, not the president, authority over elections. The president has since signed a second elections order pushing a national voter list and mail-ballot restrictions, and is lobbying Congress to pass citizenship-verification legislation. The Associated Press has more on the presidential orders.

Tennessee Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti on Tuesday announced that a federal court has allowed Tennessee’s ban on cryptocurrency ATMs to go into effect. The court’s order rejects an effort by the cryptocurrency ATM industry to temporarily block the law. That request came as part of a larger lawsuit to invalidate Tennessee’s new law. The lawsuit, filed by GPD Holdings LLC, doing business as CoinFlip, and Charles Wernicke, doing business as Private IT Corporation, sought a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of Public Chapter 766 before the law's July 1 effective date. “Cryptocurrency ATMs are tools for scammers targeting vulnerable Tennesseans and are rarely used for anything approaching a legitimate purpose,” said Skrmetti. “If you see evidence that an elderly relative or friend is trying to make an unusual cryptocurrency transaction, work with them to make sure they’re not being ripped off.” Read more in a press release from Skrmetti or a bulletin about the new law from the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions.

Since 2019, Tennessee's Department of Children's Services (DCS) has taken possession of more than $38 million in federal Social Security survivor benefits owed to orphans in state custody — funds that, if held in trust, would have averaged roughly $30,000 per child upon aging out of foster care. The Tennessean reports the practice drew federal scrutiny this spring when the Department of Health and Human Services called it "contrary to the best interests of children," though the state did not immediately change course. In June, Tennessee joined "Fostering the Future," a federal initiative backed by first lady Melania Trump, under which states will hold survivor benefits in individual investment accounts that children may access at age 18. In related news, the paper reports that since 2019, the state also has returned over $11 million in unused survivor benefits — about $10,000 per orphan — to the federal government instead of holding on to the funds for the benefit of the children.

Two major data privacy class actions are unfolding in Middle Tennessee courts, according to the Nashville Banner. In Davidson County, three anonymous plaintiffs sued CareNow (owned by HCA Healthcare) on June 11, alleging the urgent care chain secretly shared patients' scheduling and health data with Google and marketing firms via tracking cookies, allegedly forcing patients through repeated CAPTCHAs until they accepted cookies enabling the data sharing. HCA says it will "defend aggressively" against the claims. Separately, 12 lawsuits filed throughout June in federal court target Franklin-based XSolis, an AI health care analytics company, after a January hack exposed patients’ personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) — including Social Security numbers — for roughly 1.4 million patients nationwide. Plaintiffs allege the company failed to properly encrypt sensitive data.

Two Tennessee National Guard members fatally shot 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson early on July 5 in Memphis after police and guard soldiers pursued him following a shots-fired call. Officials say Johnson turned toward the guard members with a handgun before they fired. According to the Commercial Appeal, Johnson, who had no criminal record in Shelby County but had prior misdemeanor traffic charges and a failure-to-appear warrant in Middle Tennessee, was pronounced dead at the scene. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy has asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to investigate the shooting. The guard has been in Memphis since October 2025 as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, a deployment already facing a lawsuit from Democratic officials after a temporary injunction against it was overturned on appeal. This marks the fourth shooting and third fatal shooting involving a task force member, including the fatal shooting of Darrin Pigram and Jonah Neal in May.

A new state-controlled board of the Metro Nashville Airport Authority held its first meeting on July 6, elected Jimmy Granbery as chair and Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter as vice chair, and voted 5-0 to withdraw from a lawsuit against the state that the previous Metro-appointed board had joined. The board's makeup changed after a new state law took effect July 1, giving Republican legislative leaders six of nine board seats, marking the second time in three years the state has moved to seize control of the airport authority. The Nashville Business Journal reports that Metro Law Director Wally Dietz argued the new board isn't legitimately appointed and that its actions carry no legal effect, while the underlying lawsuit — which cites a federal law governing disputed airport sponsorship changes — remains pending. An initial hearing in that matter is set for Aug. 5 in federal court. Despite the unresolved litigation, the new board plans to press ahead with governance, including committee meetings and votes scheduled for July 8. A similar dispute also is playing out in the Chattanooga airport board's federal appeals case.

Robert DeBusk, a former Knox County assistant district attorney (ADA) who resigned in 2024 after being caught lying under oath, has been shifted from a full-time deputy clerk position paying $100,000 a year to a part-time, seasonal role paying $39,000 for 15 hours weekly. The change was effective July 1. According to Knox News, Criminal Court Clerk Mike Hammond, who hired DeBusk in June 2025, said the change came after DeBusk expressed interest in returning to courtroom work. DeBusk is barred from practicing in Hammond's jurisdiction. His resignation from the DA's office stemmed from testimony in a hearing where he initially denied, then admitted, that he improperly accessed privileged attorney-client communications between inmates and defense attorneys. The revelations led to his suspension, resignation and an April 2026 censure by the Tennessee Supreme Court.

After retiring from the bench in 2023, former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Lee visited Tyshon Booker, a state prisoner convicted of first-degree murder committed when he was 16, to encourage him toward rehabilitation ahead of a future parole hearing. Lee, who spoke about the experience recently, wrote the 2022 Tennessee Supreme Court opinion that found mandatory life sentences for juvenile homicide offenders unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment and instead entitled Booker to an individualized parole hearing after 25 to 36 years. Knox News reports that students at the Advocacy Clinic, part of the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law Legal Clinic, determined in 2025 that more than 100 young people in Tennessee have been sentenced to terms of life imprisonment and thus entitled to earlier parole release hearings.

The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference (TNDAGC) held its annual meeting in Memphis last month and elected new executive committee officers. They are President Mark Davidson, district attorney (DA) for the 25th Judicial District, which serves Fayette, Hardeman, Lauderdale, McNairy and Tipton counties; Vice President Ray Crouch, DA for the 23rd Judicial District, made up of Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and Stewart counties; and Secretary Dan Armstrong, 3rd Judicial District DA, which serves Greene, Hamblen, Hancock and Hawkins counties. Other members of the executive committee are Blount County DA Ryan Desmond; 24th Judicial District DA Neil Thompson, serving Benton, Carroll, Decatur, Hardin and Henry counties; DA Brent Cooper, serving the 22nd Judicial District counties of Giles, Lawrence, Maury and Wayne; Metro Nashville DA Glenn Funk; 8th Judicial District DA Jared Effler, serving Campbell, Claiborne, Fentress, Scott and Union counties; Stephen Hatchett, 10th Judicial District DA serving Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties; and 27th Judicial District DA Colin Johnson, serving Obion and Weakley counties.