Annie T. Christoff on Friday took the oath of office as a magistrate judge for the Western District of Tennessee's U.S. District Court. Christoff was appointed by the court to fill a position vacated by Magistrate Judge Diane K. Vescovo, who retired in May. A date for the public investiture ceremony has not yet been set. Christoff received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2007. She previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Tennessee, and prior to that was a litigation partner at Bass, Berry & Sims. 

The Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims is now holding in-person trials in the Chattanooga area at the Red Bank Courthouse, 3117 Dayton Blvd., Red Bank, TN 37415. The court said the move was necessary given the small size of its Chattanooga courtroom and lack of access to a large conference room that previously was available. The court expressed appreciation for Red Bank’s willingness to accommodate the move and reminded parties they always have the option of requesting a Zoom hearing or a decision on the record.

A coalition of 35 states, cities and counties sued President Donald Trump Friday over his directive not to count undocumented immigrants when apportioning seats for the House of Representatives, Reuters reports. Trump’s plan, announced earlier in the week, would exclude undocumented individuals when determining how to apportion U.S. House seats starting with the 2022 midterm election. This year’s census numbers also will be used to determine electoral votes for the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections. In a complaint filed in federal court, the plaintiffs said the plan was unconstitutional because everyone in the country regardless of legal status must be counted. In announcing the directive Trump said that use of the term “person” in the constitution has “never been understood to include ... every individual physically present within a state’s boundaries.”

White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx had a message for Gov. Bill Lee during a visit today to Tennessee: it’s time for a statewide mask mandate and closure of bars. Birx warned Lee during the meeting that Tennessee has dipped into the White House’s “red zone” of states with positive test rates greater than 10%, the Nashville Post reports. Lee has given county mayors the authority to issue mask mandates, but he has not issued a statewide mandate himself and continued that position today. At a joint press conference, Birx called on Tennesseans to wear masks in public, stop going to bars, limit indoor dining and follow social distancing rules to avoid another shut down. The visit came after a phone call with leaders last week that also highlighted Tennessee’s growing infection rate. The Nashville Business Journal has that story.

With debates regarding the legality of mask mandates taking place across the state, Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III issued an opinion Friday saying that mandates are constitutionally defensible. Slatery wrote in the opinion that for more than a century, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that “a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.” Slatery continued that “courts can only overturn orders that have no “real or substantial relation” to protecting public health or are “beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law.” He also addressed the complaint that mask mandates trample on personal liberty. Slatery found that while personal liberty is guaranteed by both the state and U.S. constitutions, that does not mean individuals are "wholly freed from restraint." Liberty can be regulated, he said, when it is for the greater good of the community. Read more in the Tennessean.

The TBA will rebroadcast the “Better Right Now” program from this year’s virtual convention tomorrow from noon to 3 p.m. CDT as part of the Summer CLE Blast. The program features University of Florida College of Law professor and author Larry Krieger, who presents research regarding lawyer happiness; Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program counselor Lindsey O'Connell, who talks about mindfulness for lawyers; and a panel of TBA Attorney Well Being Committee members that focuses on attorney well-being during the pandemic. Register here

American Bar Association President Judy Perry Martinez today briefed the TBA's delegation to the ABA Virtual Annual Meeting in a Zoom call. Along with other ABA officials, she talked about the organization's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and what issues would be before the ABA House of Delegates when it convenes next week. Other ABA officials addressing Tennessee leaders included Executive Director Jack Rives, Treasurer Michelle Behnke, House of Delegates Speaker Bill Bay and President-Elect Patricia Lee Refo. The ABA conference kicks off on Wednesday and continues through next Tuesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday announced that civil rights icon and longtime Congressman John Lewis will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol next week, USA Today reports. Lewis died last Friday at the age of 80 after a battle with cancer. An invitation-only ceremony will take place Monday afternoon while Lewis lies in state at the Capitol Rotunda. The general public will be allowed to pay their respects later Monday and on Tuesday. Lewis will lie in state outdoors for the public visitation on the East Front Steps of the Capitol because of COVID-19 precautions and all visitors will be required to wear a mask in accordance with Washington’s mandate. Lewis' family asked that people not travel from across the country to Washington, D.C., because of the pandemic, and instead asked for virtual tributes online with the hashtags #BelovedCommunity or #HumanDignity.

After staying the execution of death row inmate Harold Wayne Nichols last week, Gov. Bill Lee explained his decision to reporters during his weekly news briefing yesterday, the Associated Press reports. Last week, Lee cited challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as the sole reason of temporarily delaying the Aug. 4 execution and yesterday said he did not believe the amount of resources needed to pull off an execution in the middle of a pandemic was the “right thing to do.” “That individual, the inmate there, is allowed due process in order to get to a place where they can present a clemency request and they did not believe they had the appropriate environment to provide a clemency request,” Lee said. Additionally, Lee explained that limited access to the state’s prisons — particularly to faith leaders who meet with death row inmates — heavily influenced his decision.

A panel of legal professionals on Monday said that, four months into the COVID-19 pandemic, many attorneys seem to have adjusted to working from home and may not need to get back in the office anytime soon, Law360 reports. The New York City Bar Association hosted the event to discuss challenges facing the legal profession during the pandemic. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP partner Jyotin Hamid told the audience, "I think now that we've recognized that we can do a lot more than we might have imagined remotely, we're going to continue to do that because it's better in so many ways." Other speakers said they are expecting firms to continue to offer flexible working arrangements because not all attorneys wish to go back to the office. One panelist listed health concerns and family responsibilities as reasons some attorneys don’t wish to go back, adding that law firms can’t dictate which employees qualify as “high-risk” for severe illness from the virus.