Nominations are being accepted for the TBA’s Public Service Awards. The annual awards recognize outstanding commitment to access to justice in three categories: work performed by an attorney employed by an organization primarily involved in providing legal representation to the indigent; pro bono work performed by a private attorney; and a strong commitment to pro bono service by a Tennessee law student or recent graduate. Nominations are due no later than Dec. 3. Nominators are welcome to include supplemental information including letters or videos of support. For more information, contact TBA Director of Access to Justice & Special Projects Liz Todaro.   

Two attorneys have been appointed to a new government panel that will oversee the site of the future Ford Motor Co. assembly plant in West Tennessee. According to the Associated Press, Michael Banks of the Banks Law Firm in Brownsville was today appointed to the Megasite Authority of West Tennessee by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally. He will serve alongside First Horizon National official and former Baker Donelson CEO Charlie Tuggle, who was appointed to the board earlier this month by Gov. Bill Lee. The 11-member board includes Gov. Bill Lee, two House speaker appointees, one joint appointment by both speakers and the commissioners of economic development, finance and general services. Ford plans to build electric F-series pickup trucks at the massive $5.6 billion campus in rural Haywood County.

Eighteen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was today acquitted of all charges after he fatally shot one man and injured two others during racial justice demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020, the ABA Journal reports. Rittenhouse faced homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangerment charges. Rittenhouse maintained he acted in self-defense when he shot the three men, claiming one man put his hand on Rittenhouse’s rifle while the second hit him with a skateboard. The third man acknowledged he’d unintentionally pointed his gun at Rittenhouse. Jurors deliberated for more than 25 hours over four days.

The Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States says its studies show “considerable, bipartisan support” of term limits for the high court, the ABA Journal reports. President Joe Biden assembled the commission in April to study Supreme Court reform. The idea most often proposed is to create staggered 18-year terms for the justices, which would be timed to open up a seat every two years. Materials from a recent commission meeting point out that the U.S. is the only major constitutional democracy with no retirement age or term limits and the average length of a justice’s term has gone from around 15 years in the late 1960s to around 26 years for justices who have left the court since 1970. The commission will send a final report to Biden next month.

Wade Davies writes in the current Tennessee Bar Journal about newly expanded opportunities for expungement, after the General Assembly created ways to educate defendants on how and when they can obtain one. "What we are looking at here is expungement of actual judgments of conviction," he writes. "Expungement of a conviction is a significant development because under Tennessee law an expungement returns the defendant to the status he or she occupied before the prosecution and generally creates a right to deny having been charged." Davies encourages lawyers to do pro bono work in this area. "You do not have to be a criminal defense lawyer to help someone seek an expungement. Anyone can do it."

Hamilton County resident Kenny Morgan has announced his candidacy for the Third Congressional District seat, the Chattanoogan reports. Morgan served in the U.S. Army Health Services Command at Madigan Army Medical Center, worked at Tennessee Donors Services, Erlanger Medical Center, Hamilton Health Care System and the Family Resource Agency. The Third Congressional District seat has been held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann since 2010.

A legislative counsel to the govenor warned Tennessee lawmakers their bill limiting COVID-19 restrictions would violate federal law and put the state at risk of losing federal funds. According to records obtained by the Associated Press, Legislative Counsel Liz Alvey warned Senate Speaker Randy McNally’s chief of staff and a member of Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson’s office in an email on the night the bill was passed. “Proposed ADA accommodation in the bill is a violation of the ADA and will put us at risk of losing federal funding,” Alvey wrote. The bill was approved an hour later. It is not clear if Alvey relayed that advice to Gov. Bill Lee before he signed the bill into law less than two weeks later.

Gov. Bill Lee has announced he will allow the COVID-19 state of emergency to expire tonight after being active for nearly 20 months, the Tennessean reports. The status, which Lee activated on March 12, 2020, has allowed the state to utilize additional federal funding for its pandemic response. It also granted the governor authority to suspend state laws and regulations to battle COVID-19. Lee said today that he will “temporarily consider reinstating this tool” in the event of more COVID-19 “surges.”

Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Chris Arnt yesterday announced the launch of a new website that will provide the public with an “unprecedented amount of information” to the justice system, the Chattanoogan reports. The new site features information on the district attorney’s office, resources for witnesses and victims, information on programs like Mental Health and Drug Courts and more. Arnt will also post information on trials and cases once they are concluded. “The public rightly expects the District Attorney’s Office to operate in a transparent manner,” Arnt said. “This updated website will provide people with an unprecedented amount of information on how we pursue justice in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit.”

Eleven attorneys have applied for a vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court, created by the passing of Justice Cornelia A. Clark. Applicants are William Blaylock, Sarah Campbell, Kristi M. Davis, Timothy L. Easter, Kelvin D. Jones, William Neal McBrayer, J. Douglas Overbey, Robert F. Parsley, Jonathan T. Skrmetti, Gingeree Smith and Jeffrey Usman. The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments will consider the candidates at public hearings on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 at 9 a.m. CST in the Tennessee Room of the Tennessee State Library and Archives located at 1001 Rep. John Lewis Way North, Nashville. After a council vote, three names will be forwarded to Gov. Bill Lee for his consideration. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on each applicant.