Above the Law has released its annual Top 50 Law School Rankings. Vanderbilt Law School has dropped two places to seventh on the list, while the University of Tennessee College of Law has moved up five places to 43. See the full list of rankings here.

In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled that states cannot challenge the Biden administration’s guidelines for when to deport migrants from the country. The Hill reports that the suit from Texas and Louisiana challenged the Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement policies, which includes guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to prioritize certain immigrants for detention and deportation. The policy urges agents to focus on the most serious and violent criminals for deportation.

Former Memphis Police officers Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean have filed motions to have their cases tried separately from the other three officers who are charged in the beating and death of Tyre Nichols. The Commercial Appeal reports that both motions point to every officer being charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping — which were assessed for each of the scenes at which officers interacted with Nichols — and some of the officers were not at both scenes. 

Undocumented Tennesseans are no longer able to access basic reproductive services like family planning and birth control at health clinics that formerly relied on federal Title X funding. According to the Commercial Appeal, Tennessee lost millions in federal money due to noncompliance with a key Title X requirement that providers had to offer information on all options for pregnant patients, including information about abortion access. Tennessee's post-Dobbs policy stated patients "must be provided information and counseling regarding all options that are legal in the State of Tennessee." While the state has budgeted funds to replace the lost federal dollars, its policies do not allow the money to be used to provide services for undocumented families and individuals.

Nashville’s Metro Council has approved $6.5 million to improve radio communications between Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and police and install shatter-resistant protection on glass across the district. WPLN reports that at a meeting last week, MNPS officials highlighted several ways the council could support the district’s safety goals. An updated radio system will help ensure seamless communication between schools and police in case of an emergency. The glass protection will make it more resistant to breaking if an intruder attempts to force their way in.

The pro se Petitioner, Charles Anderson Clark, Jr., appeals the denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36.1. Based on our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The Defendant, Kyanedre Oshea-Malik Benson, was convicted in the Haywood County Circuit Court of one count of employing a firearm during the attempt to commit voluntary manslaughter, a Class C felony; one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a Class C felony; one count of attempted voluntary manslaughter, a Class D felony; ten counts of reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony; and one count of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, a Class E felony. After a sentencing hearing, he received an effective sentence of sixty-two years in confinement. On appeal, the Defendant claims that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions of attempted voluntary manslaughter and employing a firearm during the attempt to commit voluntary manslaughter and that the trial court erred by refusing to merge one of his convictions of reckless aggravated assault into his conviction of attempted voluntary manslaughter. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Jerry W. Phillips, Petitioner, appeals from the summary dismissal of his habeas corpus petition in which he claimed his convictions were void because there was a fatal variance between the proof at trial and the indictment and that the proof at trial, which differed from the proof at the preliminary hearing, constructively amended the indictment. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the habeas court.

KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. Three voters and three Republican nominees to the electoral college in Michigan brought this suit in a bid to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 presidential election. The complaint plausibly alleged that Republican election challengers had been harassed and mistreated during vote counting at the TCF Center in Detroit, in violation of Michigan law. But the complaint also alleged that an international “collaboration”—with origins in Venezuela, extending to China and Iran, and including state actors in Michigan itself—had succeeded in generating hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes in Michigan, thereby swinging the state’s electoral votes to Joseph Biden. Many of those allegations—particularly the ones concerning Dominion voting machines—were refuted by the plaintiffs’ own exhibits to their complaint. Other allegations arose from facially unreliable expert reports; still others were simply baseless. The district court found the entirety of the plaintiffs’ complaint sanctionable, and ordered all of plaintiffs’ attorneys, jointly and severally, to pay the defendants’ and the City of Detroit’s reasonable attorney’s fees. We find only part of the complaint sanctionable, and thus reverse in part and affirm in part.

This appeal involves the termination of a tenured teacher for the cause of inefficiency. After receiving a written charge recommending his dismissal, the teacher requested a tenure hearing before a hearing officer, who found that there was substantial evidence to support the charge of inefficiency and that there was just cause for termination. The teacher appealed, the board of education voted to sustain the decision of the hearing officer, and the teacher was terminated. The teacher petitioned for judicial review of the decision in the chancery court. The chancery court reversed and reinstated the teacher with back pay. The school system appeals. We reverse.