Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is restoring more than 1,500 foreign students' visa registrations following recent lawsuits. According to The Hill, the agency filed notice today that it will reinstate student records to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a system that provides international student data to the Department of Homeland Security. ICE also announced it is creating a new "framework for SEVIS record terminations" and, until that framework is in place, all student records will be maintained. Several Tennessee schools — including the University of Tennessee, University of Memphis and Christian Brothers University — had reported in the past few weeks that international students on their campuses had been impacted. Knox News reports on what the move means for UT students, while the Commercial Appeal looks at the University of Memphis.

The City of Nashville has sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over recent public health funding cuts, which the city argues are unconstitutional. According to The Tennessean, the lawsuit alleges the cuts were illegal and lacked congressional approval because the funds previously were reviewed and approved by Congress. Nashville joined three other local governments in filing the suit in federal court in Washington, D.C. In March, HHS cut $11 billion in public health funding as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) review effort. The Trump administration characterized the funds as COVID-era relief, but Nashville’s suit contends that Congress repeatedly reviewed and renewed some of the grants well after the peak of the pandemic.

The Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) Duncan School of Law will host Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Dwight E. Tarwater as its 2025 commencement speaker on May 8. He will be the first sitting justice to speak at the law school's commencement. Tarwater joined the state’s high court in September 2023 following his nomination by Gov. Bill Lee and confirmation by the Tennessee General Assembly. Tarwater co-founded the Knoxville law firm of Paine Tarwater Bickers LLP and gained national recognition for handling complex litigation in state and federal courts across more than 20 states. “We are honored to have Justice Tarwater speak to our graduates and their families at our upcoming commencement exercises,” said LMU Law Vice President and Dean Matt Lyon in a press release. The law school’s 13th graduating class is the largest in its history.

The Tennessee Board of Parole on Tuesday recommended a pardon for country music star Jelly Roll, a Nashville native who has spoken openly about his criminal record. The board’s unanimous, nonbinding recommendation now leaves the final decision to Gov. Bill Lee. The rapper-turned-country singer is seeking a pardon so he can more easily travel internationally to perform and share his message of redemption, after spending time behind bars as a young person. The Associated Press reports that his most serious convictions include a robbery at age 17 and drug charges at 23. Due to his record, Jelly Roll told the board, it “takes a team of lawyers and a mountain of paperwork” to travel abroad. The board began reviewing his application in October 2024, marking at least five years since his sentence expired. Lee has issued more than 90 pardons since taking office in 2019, all of them since 2021.

Nearly all counties in Tennessee reported unemployment rates below 5% in March, according to newly released data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Only four of the state’s 95 counties recorded unemployment rates of 5% or higher, with the highest at 5.7%. Unemployment rates decreased from February to March in 70 counties, remained the same in 17, and increased in eight.

An executive order signed April 23 by President Donald Trump directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to assess whether to suspend or terminate the American Bar Association (ABA) as the government’s official law school accreditor. The order claims that some accreditors engage in “discriminatory practices” by using “diversity, equity and inclusion … standards of accreditation.” It also states that such standards and “similar unlawful mandates must be permanently eradicated.” In addition, the order directs the attorney general and education secretary to “investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American law schools” that is taken “under the guise of accreditation standards.” The move comes after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the ABA earlier this spring to immediately repeal its law school diversity rule and scrap a planned revision of the standard. That letter also stated that the government could revoke the group’s accreditation status. According to reporting by Reuters, removing the ABA from its accreditation role — which it has held since 1952 — could impact student loans, lawyer licensing and attorney mobility.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee has announced its intention to amend the local rules of court effective May 15. Comments on the proposed changes are being accepted and should be emailed to localrules@tnmd.uscourts.gov by 5 p.m. CDT on May 1. The court says it will consider any comments received and make further amendments or orders as necessary. View the proposed changes in both a clean and redline version.

Former Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons, who now serves as executive director of Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, is calling for a clearinghouse of data that gives a clearer picture of how the local court system operates. The commission, an independent nonprofit that is funded through private donors, is looking at ways to improve the system. Gibbons says that data is the key to determine where bottlenecks are in the system, including why it takes so long to dispose of cases. Gibbons is being assisted by Jonathan Bennett, associate director of the University of Memphis Center for Community Research and Evaluation. Bennett says it is difficult to get reliable data because of the number of agencies involved in the system. The Daily Memphian has more on the effort.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump was in Knoxville recently to discuss lawsuits against Knox County and the University of Tennessee Medical Center over the deaths of two Black men following encounters with law enforcement. Crump is representing the families of Daevon Saint-Germain and David Batts, both of whom died after altercations with Knox County law enforcement. Tennessee Lookout has specifics on each case. Over the years, Crump has represented a number of families following the deaths of individuals who interacted with law enforcement, including high profile clients such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tyre Nichols.

Within 10 months of leaving campus, more than 82% of 2024 law school graduates had landed jobs that require bar admission. That percentage, representing the highest rate ever recorded by the ABA for bar admission jobs, was up from 80% in 2023, Reuters reports. The figure is especially notable, because the class of 2024 had nearly 11% more graduates than its predecessor, meaning there were 3,722 more new lawyers competing for jobs. The new data defies predictions that a double-digit enrollment surge would weaken job prospects, the news source reports.