The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated three lawyers on Friday and two lawyers today who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the Sept. 1 order, the Sept. 5 order or see the list of all those reinstated online.

FEMA has announced that federal disaster assistance is now available to the state of Tennessee to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms and straight-line winds that occurred July 18-21. Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state. Public assistance federal funding is available to the state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and straight-line winds in Fayette, Henry, Shelby and Tipton counties. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. For questions contact FEMA-NewsDesk-Tennessee@FEMA-DHS.gov.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has two cases set for its Sept. 6 docket. The first case, Terry Case v. Wilmington Trust, N.A., et al., will be heard in Knoxville at 9 a.m. EDT and will be livestreamed to the TNCourts YouTube page. The second case, Thomas Fleming Mabry v. Board of Professional Responsibility, will be submitted on briefs. Media members planning to attend oral arguments should review Supreme Court Rule 30 and file any required requests.

This is a post-divorce action involving the question of whether the alimony obligor’s transitional alimony obligation was properly terminated due to the alimony recipient’s purported cohabitation with a third party. The wife, as the alimony recipient, was found to be cohabiting with her parents. As such, the trial court analyzed whether the wife had rebutted the statutory presumption that she no longer needed alimony, concluding that she had not rebutted that presumption. Accordingly, the husband’s transitional alimony obligation was terminated. The wife timely appealed. Upon review, we determine that the trial court’s order terminating the husband’s transitional alimony obligation must be vacated due to a lack of necessary findings. We remand this matter to the trial court for additional findings concerning the wife’s residential situation at the time of trial.

The Texas Senate today opened its impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton by voting to reject several motions to dismiss the charges. Reuters reports that senators voted 24-6 against dismissing all changes as well as additional motions to throw out individual charges. Paxton has been suspended since the Texas House of Representatives voted in May to impeach him on mulitiple counts of corruption including aiding a political donor and persecuting whistleblowers from his office who accused him of wrongdoing. The trial is expected to last several weeks. Both chambers of the legislature are controlled by Republicans.

The TBA Criminal Justice Section will provide a free webinar tomorrow, Sept. 6, regarding juvenile justice for criminal law practitioners. This one-hour event will cover the basics for lawyers tackling their first juvenile case, including best practices, transfer hearings, new laws and more. Panelists include federal prosecutor and TBA Criminal Justice Section Immediate Past Chair Sean Deitrick, supervisor of the Knox County Public Defenders Office's Youth Defense Unit Christina Kleiser, Williamson County Juvenile Court Judge Sharon Guffee and juvenile defense attorney Wenke West. One hour of general CLE credit is available for a $50 processing fee. Register to attend using this link.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, formally announced her bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday during campaign events in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, reports KnoxNews. Johnson, 61, will attempt to unseat Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, 71, who was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reps. Justin Pearson and Sen. Charlane Oliver, D-Nashville, will serve as Johnson’s campaign co-chairs. Johnson's first stop this morning was near Central High School in Knoxville, where she formerly taught and experienced a school shooting in 2008. This evening she will speak in Memphis at the I Am A Man Plaza. Johnson will face off against community activist and organizer Marquita Bradshaw in the Democratic primary. Bradshaw won the Democratic Senate nomination in 2020 but lost to Republican Bill Hagerty. Johnson gained national attention after she was nearly expelled from the Tennessee General Assembly for protesting for gun reform on the House floor as part of the "Tennessee Three."

The U.S. government has won a court injunction blocking the sale of after-market triggers that allow gun owners to convert AR-15 style rifles into weapons that can shoot as fast as machine guns, reports Reuters. U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison ruled the Department of Justice was likely to prove that the "forced-reset triggers" sold by Rare Breed Triggers LLC and its owners were illegal machine guns under federal law. Rifles equipped with Rare Breed's FRT-15 triggers are capable of firing 700 rounds a minute, faster than military-grade M-16 machine guns. In a 129-page decision, Morrison said the defendants defrauded customers by claiming the triggers were "absolutely" legal, despite having failed to win Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives approval for their sale.

A panel of three federal judges ruled today that Alabama's Republican-drawn congressional map illegally dilutes the voting power of Black residents and ignored a court order to adhere to the Voting Rights Act, reports Reuters. The ruling is the second time the court has thrown out a congressional plan enacted by the Republican-controlled Alabama state legislature. A court-appointed special master and cartographer will oversee a new map ahead of next year's election. The judges noted in their ruling they were "deeply troubled that the State enacted a map that the State readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires." More than one-quarter of Alabama's residents are Black. At a special session in July, Alabama lawmakers declined to create a second majority-Black congressional district. In related news, on Saturday, the Hill reported that a Florida judge ruled that a congressional map authorized by Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the state constitution’s Fair Districts Amendment by "dismantling a congressional district that enabled Black voters to elect their candidates of choice under the previous plan.”

The 11th annual ClioCon Conference takes place in Nashville Oct. 9-10 at the Opryland Hotel and TBA is giving away TWO FREE PASSES to Tennessee law students. The annual conference is the definitive event for legal professionals and legal tech leaders to learn about news and events impacting the legal profession. Check out the agenda, which offers two full days of programming and networking opportunities. A member benefit partner of the TBA, Clio offers a wide range of practice management services, white papers and podcasts about the future of the practice. Each winner will receive a daily pass to attend the conference. Overnight accommodations are not included. The deadline to enter the drawing is Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. CDT.

ENTER TO WIN HERE