Legal challenges continue to be filed against President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders. A Maryland federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction blocking the administration from curtailing birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented parents. The move comes after a judge in Seattle imposed a temporary halt on the policy. In addition, the ACLU has filed suit in D.C. federal court challenging the president’s ban on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. With regard to transgender care, a suit has been filed over orders that curtail federal funding and support for medical transitions for those under age 19. Tennessee’s law banning such care for minors is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Tennessee Lookout reports that two teens who left Tennessee after the state ban went into effect are part of the group suing over the federal ban. Finally, in other news, a suit has been filed against two executive orders seeking to end federal diversity programs; a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has blocked efforts to move transgender women to men's prisons; and FBI agents have sued to protect their identities from Department of Justice leaders who are seeking information about those who worked on Jan. 6 cases. Bloomberg reports that the FBI has shared titles and offices but not names. Reuters has more on all of these suits.

Ezekiel Kelly, a 22-year-old Memphis man charged with capitol murder, will act as his own lawyer in a trial scheduled for July. The two dozen charges, including first-degree murder and attempted murder, stem from a September 2022 shooting spree and city-wide manhunt that left three people dead and three others wounded. According to the Associated Press, a judge in January granted Kelly's request to serve as his own lawyer, and on Tuesday, Kelly requested more time to access the jail computers to review the evidence against him. He has pleaded not guilty. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said his office plans to seek the death penalty if Kelly is convicted of first-degree murder.

The Tennessee Office for Refugees, a department of Catholic Charities, anticipated serving more than 2,000 newly-arriving refugees between September 2024 and September 2025. One of President Donald Trump's Jan. 20 executive orders froze all refugee resettlement and support, leaving the refugees and the nonprofits that work with them in limbo. Tennessee Lookout reports that a subsequent Jan. 24 “stop work” letter was sent to resettlement agencies across the country to halt “reception and placement” services, which impacts more than 140 refugees who already were in Tennessee. Rick Musacchio, executive director of the Tennessee Catholic Conference, told News Channel 5 that the organization is focusing on supporting the refugees they already have settled, but even those services may end without major financial support from the community.

East Tennessee residents along the I-75 corridor between Chattanooga and Knoxville last week reported finding flyers along roads instructing immigrants to "self-deport" and recruiting "white protestants" to the Ku Klux Klan, reports the Chattanooga Times-Free Press. Chattanooga leaders and immigrants' rights groups released statements condemning the flyers and their message, with city council member Demetrus Coonrod saying, "These documents, steeped in racism and xenophobia, strike at the very heart of what we hold dear in our diverse communities." A Kentucky man identified himself as the leader of the group distributing the flyers, telling the news outlet that his group has been distributing similar materials in other states as part of a recruiting push.

A temporary injunction against Tennessee's new THCA rule will remain in effect until June 5, when a legal challenge against the Tennessee Department of Agriculture is set for trial. The Tennessee Growers Coalition and the Tennessee Healthy Alternatives Association filed a lawsuit in September arguing that the rule, which would prohibit sales of THCA products that could convert to 0.3% or more THC, represented agency overreach and would lead to a ban of products that have not been outlawed by the General Assembly. Nashville Chancellor I'Ashea Myles in December granted a temporary injunction that stopped enforcement of the rule. The Tennessee Lookout reports that the decision gives a six-month reprieve for Tennessee’s hemp industry, which has grown to an estimated $280-$560 million in annual sales since the products were legalized in 2019.

Metro Nashville Police say there have been 12 arrests of middle and high school students in Metro Nashville Schools since the shooting at Antioch High School on Jan. 22. Eleven of the arrests were related to making threats against schools while the 12th involved a student bringing a gun on school property, the Tennessean reports. In July of last year, a new law took effect making it a felony to make these kinds of threats. That followed a 2023 law requiring public schools to expel students for one year if they make a threat of mass violence. Davidson County Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway tells WKRN News, “For me, the most concerning part is these youth just don’t understand the gravity and the severity of what they’re doing. They don’t understand how it emotionally affects everybody in our community."

A $2 million pledge recently was made by Chattanooga law firm Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers to support students at the University of Tennessee College of Law, the school has announced. The gift will support the Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers Scholarship Endowment, which benefits students pursuing careers in advocacy; the Douglas A. Blaze Leadership Scholarship, which supports students preparing for leadership roles in the legal profession; and the John K. Morgan Trial Advocacy Endowment, which honors a prominent Chattanooga attorney who influenced Summers and was an important figure in his book "The Turtle and the Lawyer." Responding to the gift, law school Dean Lonnie T. Brown Jr. said. "Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers’ sustained history of unparalleled generosity is indispensable to our ongoing success and so very deeply appreciated.”

Two Knoxville law firms — the Law Offices of G. Turner Howard III and Garza Law — have merged according to Knox TN Today. Turner Howard will continue to work from his West Knoxville office, said Krista DeSocio, communications and marketing director for Garza Law. “It’s a good partnership because both men are kind and thoughtful. We were able to work it out,” DeSocio said. Garza Law has 18 attorneys and several investigators. The firm handles personal injury and criminal cases, along with Social Security and disability claims.

An inmate at the Shelby County Jail died Friday, bringing the total number of deaths at the facility since 2019 to at least 55. The Daily Memphian reports that the incident began last Thursday when jailers found an inmate unresponsive after a medical emergency. The inmate was taken to Methodist University Hospital and died Friday afternoon. Previous reporting from the news outlet showed at least 40 deaths at 201 Poplar between 2019 and mid-2023, with many deaths attributed to drugs, violence or inmate health conditions. In 2024, the facility saw at least seven inmate deaths.

Germantown resident Alexis Luttrell is facing a court date after being cited for violating a local ordinance regarding the length of time holiday decorations can be displayed. Luttrell, who used an 8-foot skeleton man and a skeleton dog for multiple holiday displays, received a citation for keeping the decorations up beyond the 30-day limit set by Germantown's property maintenance code. According to the Commercial Appeal, Luttrell, citing her First Amendment rights and plans to challenge the citation, arguing the ordinance infringes on free speech by regulating the content and timing of decorations. The Institute for Justice is supporting her claim, asserting that the city’s actions are unconstitutional and discriminatory, as they limit personal expression based on the nature of the display. The court will consider whether Germantown’s regulations unlawfully restrict Luttrell's right to choose her holiday decorations on Feb. 13 in Germantown Municipal Court.