The Tennessee Bar Association is closing early today at 2 p.m. CDT and will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. We will reopen at 8 a.m. CDT on Tuesday. Staff are continuing to work remotely. Access email addresses and direct lines here.

Gov. Bill Lee yesterday signed into law legislation that creates a three-judge panel to hear constitutional challenges to state laws, executive orders, regulations and legislative redistricting cases, the Times Free Press reports. Chattanooga attorney Lee Davis told the paper he believes the law is unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers. He also predicts a “real problem” in provisions regarding likely challenges to legislative reapportionment and redistricting in 2022. Davis says that before judicial panels are allowed to render a ruling that a redistricting plan does not meet legal requirements, the new law will require the panel to bring the problem to the legislature to correct, which, he says, is unconstitutional. The new law goes into effect on July 1.

Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor issued a legal opinion this week stating that the special election to fill the seat of late Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, cannot also include the District 9 County Commission seat, the Chattanoogan reports. County Commissioner Greg Martin had asked Taylor if the elections could be combined so that commission members could forego appointing an interim commissioner. Taylor said other voters in the district would be disenfranchised if the two elections were merged. Gov. Bill Lee has not yet issued the writ of election that will determine dates for the primary and general special elections.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kristen Clarke to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division, The Hill reports. Clarke will be the first Black woman in the role of assistant attorney general for civil rights. Republicans opposed Clarke’s nomination was deadlocked 11-11 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. But that did not prevent the nomination from going to the full Senate floor where it passed on a tight vote of 51-48. Before being nominated, Clarke was the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

William E. McManus Jr., a former assistant district attorney for the 1st Judicial District in Washington County, pleaded guilty on Monday to soliciting sex in exchange for dismissing a woman’s criminal charges, the Associated Press reports. As part of a plea agreement, McManus admitted that he dismissed shoplifting and meth possession charges in return for a commercial sex act with the woman. McManus will be sentenced in November. He faces the possibility of a maximum punishment of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A nonprofit group founded by former Nashville public defender Dawn Deaner is accusing the Nashville Recovery Court Support Foundation of arbitrarily suing drug offenders to raise money for its drug treatment facilities. According to Fox 17, the foundation is using the Drug Dealer Liability Act to sue 15 people with drug convictions for $24,999 each, the maximum amount allowed in such cases. Deaner's group, Choosing Justice Initiative, is representing one of the 15 and says the foundation is violating the spirit of the law while also unfairly targeting only those who own property. The foundation says it is following the law: “If the foundation can make the people that are involved in the drug trade and have been convicted of the drug offense in Davidson County pay something to actually assist in the Foundation’s mission of supporting a drug treatment facility, the Foundation is doing exactly what the legislature has intended,” the group's lawyer said in a statement.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended Madison County lawyer Sherry Marie Percival from the practice of law for five years, with six months to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation. Percival entered a conditional guilty plea acknowledging that she failed to reconcile her trust account, mismanaged the account and the settlement funds it contained, executed a release on behalf of her client, and endorsed the client’s name on a settlement check without permission. She must enter into a practice monitoring agreement with the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program, engage an accountant to reconcile her trust account, and attend the Board of Professional Responsibility’s Trust Account Workshop.

The sponsor of Tennessee’s new transgender bathroom law is now saying that owners and officials who do not comply with the law could be hit with a class B misdemeanor, the Associated Press reports. Although the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, previously told lawmakers the measure did not contain penalties, he now claims they were inserted into a chapter of existing building code law that already penalizes a number of violations. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk earlier this week announced he would not enforce the new law, which requires businesses and government facilities to post signs if they let transgender people use the bathroom of their choice. According to the Tennessean, Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, called Funk’s remarks "more than marginally offensive to the concept of constitutionally ordered government." In a letter to Funk on Tuesday, Ragan asked the DA to promptly confirm whether his remarks were accurately reported.

Lewis Thomason special counsel, Michael Goode, was appointed to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on International Trade in Legal Services earlier this month. The committee monitors the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and other international trade negotiations involving the U.S. and the provision of legal service. It also educates and engages with entities interested in the status of the GATS and provides feedback to the ABA. Goode is a TBA member and works in the Nashville office of Lewis Thomason. He is a member of the TBA’s Estate Planning & Probate and Immigration Law sections and currently serves as chair of the International Law & Practice Section and vice chair of the Tax Law section. Read more about his appointment from Lewis Thomason.

Mark your calendar for the TBA LGBT Section’s Annual Forum 2021 on Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. CDT. This year’s program will focus on political concerns for Tennessee’s LGBT community, including an advocacy panel that will address how to become more involved locally in the fight for equal justice, how to build a grassroots movement and more. The section also will host a booth at the Nashville Pride Festival to answer basic questions and provide attendees with relevant resources. If you are interested in volunteering to assist at the festival, please contact section coordinator Jarod Word.