The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee, the Wharton firm and Memphis advocacy group Just City are demanding that Shelby County fix its cash bail system or risk a lawsuit, the Commercial Appeal reports. In a letter addressed to multiple judicial and government officials, including Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, the groups ask for a mediated discussion to be held prior to the end of January 2022. The letter proposes reforms of the bail system, including ensuring those arrested receive individualized bail hearings within 24 hours of arrest, that an inquiry be made into the person’s financial circumstances before the hearing and that unaffordable financial conditions only be imposed when there is no other alternative.  

Learn how to better manage your email workload during a one-hour webinar on Dec. 6 from noon until 1 p.m. CST. How to Better Manage Your Workload: Email Management explores how to efficiently batch process emails to get them out of your inbox without losing important messages. Attendees are encouraged to have their laptops or other mobile devices handy to try out proposed solutions. The program is part of the TBA’s annual Year End CLE Event, which offers a variety of live virtual or on-demand programs, CLE packages and much more to help meet your last minute CLE needs.  

Community leaders and criminal justice advocates in Nashville are pushing back against a program from the District Attorney’s office called “Safe Surrender,” the Tennessean reports. The two-day program, also hosted by the criminal court clerk and several general sessions judges, allows those with outstanding warrants to turn themselves in at a local church to receive “favorable consideration.” Advocates and community leaders say they’d like clarification on what the favorable considerations would be and claim the program lacks real incentives. The goal of the program is to clear a backlog of 33,000 outstanding warrants in Nashville, 11,000 of which are for failure to appear according to the DA’s office. “The program has good intentions," said Dawn Deaner, executive director of the Choosing Justice Initiative. “But they aren't doing anything that a good lawyer can't help someone do."

The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office yesterday announced it will no longer grant exemptions to a new state law that abolishes all vaccine mandates, the Tennessean reports. State legislators passed a law banning all vaccine mandates during the COVID special session in October, but entities at risk of losing federal funding for not complying with federal vaccine requirements were allowed to apply for exemptions from the Comptroller’s Office. In a statement, the Comptroller’s Office said it “can no longer find that compliance with Public Chapter 6 would result in a loss of federal funding” after two federal judges issued preliminary injunctions blocking the federal vaccine mandate. Sixty nine exemptions that were granted to entities like the University of Tennessee System and Blue Cross Blue Shield are now suspended, but the Comptroller’s Office notes they could be reinstated if the injunctions are lifted.

Deborah Taylor Tate recently announced she will be leaving her post as director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in early 2022. During her seven years of leadership, Tate is credited with increasing the stature and funding of the AOC, overseeing the implementation of 12 Safe Baby Courts, working to stem the impact of the opioid and addiction epidemic, coordinating two Eviction Summits, expanding access to justice programs and more. Tate assisted the Supreme Court with establishing the first business docket pilot project in state history and steered legislation to allow e-filing statewide. “As an attorney, this appointment has been the highest honor and privilege of my career,” Tate said. Read more from the AOC.

The Judicial Ethics Committee recently issued two new opinions. The first, Advisory Opinion 21-2, responds to three questions regarding the ability of judges and judicial candidates to make political contributions. With regard to whether judges or judicial candidates may contribute to a political party, a specific candidate’s campaign or some other form of political organization, the committee says a limited exception in Rule of Judicial Conduct 4.2(C)(3) allows such contributions so long as they are within the limitations of law. The committee, however, did not find it permissible for judges or judicial candidates to pay a political organization to offset the costs related to its endorsement of the judge or candidate, to join the organization’s balloting efforts, or to be included on a ballot with nonjudicial candidates. The second, Advisory Opinion 21-3, finds that judges and judicial candidates may not be listed as a member of a host committee for a fundraiser for another judge or judicial candidate.

A federal judge in Kentucky this week blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors in three states: Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, Action News 5 reports. The ruling comes in response to a suit filed by the attorneys general in each state. U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky said the mandate exceeded the president’s authority. Yesterday, the White House said the Justice Department "will vigorously defend" the government’s authority to promote its vaccine requirement in courts that have blocked its various mandates. But with a nod to the reality of the current situation, the White House told federal agencies they can delay punishing federal workers who failed to comply with a Nov. 22 vaccination deadline, Reuters reports. Also this week, a district court judge in Louisiana issued a nationwide injunction against the administration's vaccine mandate for health workers, the second judge to block that rule this week.

The full U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear arguments on Tennessee's abortion law signed into law last year by Gov. Bill Lee, the Tennessean reports. The move comes after the state appealed a ruling by a three-judge panel of the court to uphold an injunction imposed by Judge William L. Campbell in the Middle District of Tennessee. The wide-ranging legislation was signed into law last summer and immediately blocked. In September, a panel of 6th Circuit judges upheld Campbell's decision. The state then appealed asking the full court to rehear the case. Read the court's opinion granting the state's petition for rehearing.

The Davidson County Chancery Court recently announced the re-appointment of Maria M. Salas as the court’s clerk & master. Her second term began today. Salas, a graduate of the Nashville School of Law, worked in private practice for more than 20 years before first being named to the post in December 2015. Salas has been active in the local legal community and with the Tennessee Bar Association, serving as a member of the inaugural Leadership Law class. She also is a founding member and current board member of the Stonewall Bar Association. In making the appointment, the chancellors noted that Salas broke new ground during her first term by implementing an electronic filing system for the court, and worked tirelessly during the COVID-19 pandemic to “serve the public and legal community, while ensuring the courts remained open and accessible to all.”

Former U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers has announced her campaign for Davidson County district attorney general, becoming DA Glenn Funk’s second challenger, the Nashville Post reports. Myers joins Danielle Nellis, a former prosecutor and judicial clerk, in challenging Funk, who has announced plans to seek a second term. Myers says she was inspired to go into law by her attorney father and into her current line of work through an internship at the DA’s office while in law school at Vanderbilt University. She spent almost four years as an assistant district attorney and two years as an assistant prosecutor in the state attorney general’s office before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She served there for five years focusing mainly on human trafficking and civil rights cases.