Tennessee’s juvenile court judges know all too well the life-altering effects of child abuse, and this year especially, are deeply concerned about the well-being of the state’s children, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. As National Child Abuse Prevention Month comes to end today, Williamson County Juvenile Court Judge Sharon Guffee and Sevier County General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Jeff Rader talk about the unprecedented challenges currently facing Tennessee youths. Read more about what they are seeing in their courts.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit heard arguments yesterday in a case challenging the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that blocks patients from obtaining abortions for specific reasons, such as a Down syndrome diagnosis, and allows felony charges against health care providers who knowingly perform abortions for such reasons. Less than an hour after the governor signed the proposal into law last summer, District Judge William L. Campbell halted the measure from taking effect while the appeals process played out. Last November, the appeals court overturned Campbell's ruling in part, allowing the ban to be enforced during the appellate proceedings, but gave opponents more time to make their case. Earlier this month, the appeals court upheld a similar "reason ban" in Ohio, the Tennessean reports.

Tennessee lawmakers recently gave final approval to a bill that will allow athletes at colleges in the state to earn money off their name, image and likeness. Schools would be required to conduct financial literacy workshops and players would be prohibited from endorsing gambling, alcohol, tobacco or adult entertainment products. Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign the bill, the Nashville Post reports. The bill will take effect Jan. 1, 2022. The move comes as the NCAA is considering a nationwide name, image and likeness framework.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III last week called on the U.S. Supreme Court to reject claims that the state violated Mississippi’s sovereignty when it pumped water from a vast aquifer in the region, Bloomberg Law reports. The filing comes after a special master appointed by the high court to consider the matter recommended rejecting Mississippi’s claims last year. The longstanding dispute between the two states centers on whether a Memphis utility interfered with Mississippi’s authority over its land and waters when it pumped water from the Sparta-Memphis Aquifer. Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to recognize its right to the groundwater and impose damages on Tennessee.

The legal community, including law students from a number of schools, provided meaningful opportunities for Tennesseans to connect to civil legal help during Help4TNMonth, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. Events this month included a Faith and Justice Phone-In General Legal Advice Clinic in Knoxville, a statewide virtual town hall on Tennessee’s mandatory reporting laws and best practices for dealing with survivors of assault, and continued efforts to assist courts facing a backlog of civil cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the legal clinic in Knoxville, 22 students from the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law conducted intake, completed necessary paperwork and provided case summaries to the attorney volunteers. Students from the University of Tennessee College of Law also participated. Read more about these activities and reflections from attorney volunteers who participated on the AOC website.

The first Shelby County criminal jury trial in more than 13 months was supposed to have gotten underway Monday, but the defendant entered a guilty plea before the jury was seated, the Commercial Appeal reports. The trial was to take place in one of two brand-new, spacious courtrooms with plastic barriers and other features designed to reduce the spread of the new virus. No trials are scheduled next week, so the new courtrooms will sit empty until at least May 10 when the next trial is scheduled.

A new study released by the American Bar Association yesterday found stark divisions based on age and race when it comes to believing whether there are racial biases built into the rules, procedures and practices of the justice system. Among white respondents, 45% said such biases exist compared to 80% of Black respondents and 63% of Hispanic respondents. The ABA 2021 Survey of Civic Literacy also discovered that more than two-thirds of Americans age 18-34 believe racial biases exist in the justice system, while only about one-third age 65 and older do. In addition to the traditional civics questions that are asked, the survey included questions related to the rule of law, equal application of the law, perception of police, charging juveniles as adults, defunding the police and mass incarceration.

The Tennessee House and Senate yesterday approved a $42.6 billion annual spending plan for 2022, the Tennessean reports. Highlights include $2.4 million to create a statewide chancery court, designed to take constitutional challenges to state laws out of the hands of the Davidson County Chancery Court, and increased funding for the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. With regard to the professional privilege tax, lawmakers rejected Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to reduce the tax from $400 to $300, opting instead to enact a more robust reduction, or possible elimination, next year. The bill also includes $784,000 for the District Attorney's Conference to make technology improvements that will complete and expand a new case management system for electronic discovery. The group has begun conversations with the Administrative Office of the Courts and Tennessee Department of Correction on how the system could be used in other ways such as expanding electronic judgements.

The approved plan also includes $121,000 for Lipscomb University’s LIFE Program, which provides opportunities for traditional students to study and learn alongside residents of the Tennessee Prison for Women. Finally, the bill provides a week-long sales tax holiday for groceries and prepared food, funding for a state commission to study medical marijuana, $250 million for a mental health trust fund, $250 million for the state’s retirement fund, and $5.3 million for nonprofit organizations working on sex trafficking issues. Having now passed a budget, lawmakers plan to return to Nashville next week to complete selected remaining legislation, including the “behind the budget” bills that were included in the final appropriations bill. Adjournment is expected to take place sometime the middle of next week.

Longtime Tennessee state senator Thelma Harper will lie in state from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT Wednesday at the state capitol, becoming the first African American woman to receive that honor. Harper, the first African American woman elected to the state Senate and longest serving female senator in state history, died April 22 at the age of 80. A four-day celebration is being planned next week at locations around Nashville that were important in her life: a community viewing at Schrader Lane Church of Christ on Monday, viewing at the Historic Metropolitan Courthouse on Tuesday, and a celebration of life, internment and barbecue in her honor on Thursday. WKRN has the schedule.

Nominations for two of the Tennessee Bar Association’s annual awards are due Monday. The Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award honors a judge or judicial branch official of a federal, state or local court in Tennessee who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, our legal system and the administration of justice as exemplified by the career of Justice Frank F. Drowota III. The Claudia Jack Award honors an outstanding public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and their clients in an exemplary fashion. It is named after the late Claudia Jack, a public defender and long-time champion of the poor and underprivileged.