Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner says if the Shelby County Board of Commissioners passes a budget that cuts 441 vacant positions from his office, he will take the commission to court. At the opening of county budget hearings today, Bonner said he believes state law forbids cuts to his part of the county budget. “We’re being asked by city of Memphis residents to do more than we’ve ever done before,” Bonner said while also citing the need for a new jail. “I’ve never said no to any municipality when they’ve asked for Sheriff’s Department help.” A spokesperson for the county said that even with the job cuts, the budget proposals retains 300 unfilled positions, the Daily Memphian reports.

A former law student is suing the law firm of King & Spalding, alleging the firm discriminates against white heterosexual candidates for certain summer associate positions. In the complaint, the former student argues that the firm violated federal law by stating that it preferred non-white or non-heterosexual candidates for a diversity fellowship. The suit is the latest challenge to diversity hiring programs following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action on college campuses last year. Other firms targeted have included Winston & Strawn, Perkins Coie and Morrison Foerster. Bloomberg has more.

Two U.S. Supreme Court justices are speaking out about their experiences on the nation’s highest court. At a conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Alabama Justice Clarence Thomas decried “the nastiness and the lies” he and his wife have “had to endure” in recent years, and described Washington, D.C., as a place where “people pride themselves in being awful.” Thomas also talked about why he tends to write separate or dissenting opinions that question long-standing precedent. At a conference for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Austin, both Thomas and Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised concerns about the court’s growing emergency docket. They said it pressures justices to make quick rulings in controversial issues before developing a complete understanding of the facts. Bloomberg Law looks at both events.

The claim period for franchise tax property measure refunds opened today, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue. Taxpayers who paid the franchise tax on the property measure using Schedule G for tax years ending on or after March 31, 2020, for which a return was filed with the department on or after Jan. 1, 2021, are eligible for a refund. To obtain a refund, taxpayers must amend their franchise and excise tax returns for all eligible tax periods and file Schedule G. Both the amended returns and the refund claim form must be submitted by Nov. 30. Learn more in this press release from the department.

SILER, Circuit Judge. Plaintiffs are eight men sentenced for sexual offenses between 1982 and 1994. Under the 2004 Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act (“the Act”) and its subsequent amendments, they are required to comply with various reporting requirements and geographical restrictions imposed on all sex offenders. Tennessee considers these laws instrumental in combating recidivism among a class of defendants it views as particularly dangerous to the most vulnerable within its society—its children. But Plaintiffs view the laws as a violation of the Constitution’s Ex Post Facto Clause. The district court agreed with the Plaintiffs and issued a sweeping injunction prohibiting Governor Lee and Director Rausch from enforcing the entire Tennessee code against the Plaintiffs.

For the reasons laid out below, we disagree with the district court. Therefore, we REVERSE IN PART the district court’s judgment that the Act violates the Ex Post Facto Clause and REMAND with orders to VACATE the declaratory judgment, DISSOLVE the injunction against Governor Lee, DISMISS Governor Lee from the suit based on a lack of standing, and to MODIFY the injunction against Director Rausch consistent with this opinion.

SILER, Circuit Judge. In this interlocutory appeal from a partial denial of summary judgment, Defendants-Appellants Berrien County Jail officers (“Officers”) argue that they properly raised a qualified immunity defense, and that Plaintiff-Appellee Wendy Cockrun’s evidence did not create a genuine dispute of material facts to overcome summary judgment. But we do not linger on the merits of the case or the standard of qualified immunity: the issues presented can be answered solely on procedural grounds. We conclude that Officers failed to sufficiently assert qualified immunity in their motion for summary judgment, and therefore forfeited the defense. For that reason, we dismiss Officers’ summary judgment claim for want of jurisdiction. In the alternative, we hold that even if Officers did assert qualified immunity, we still would not have jurisdiction over their appeal because they only raised questions of fact instead of questions of law.

Defendant, Chad Anthony Turner, entered an open guilty plea to theft of property $250,000 or more, a Class A felony. He was sentenced to sixteen years’ incarceration and ordered to pay $100,000, in restitution to be paid in monthly installments of $700, should he make parole. On appeal, Defendant contends the trial court erred by imposing a restitution amount without any significant findings on Defendant’s financial resources and ability to pay and conditioned on the possibility of parole, by ordering a restitution amount which could not be satisfied prior to the end of his sentence, and by denying his request for an alternative sentence. Upon review of the record, the parties’ briefs, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court regarding the length and manner of Defendant’s sentence. However, we reverse the trial court’s restitution order and remand for a new restitution hearing consistent with this opinion.

Logan Darby Helton, Defendant, claims the trial court abused its discretion by denying his application for judicial diversion relative to his guilty-pleaded convictions for aggravated burglary, aggravated criminal trespass, and unlawful photographing in violation of privacy. Following a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court but remand the case for entry of a corrected judgment form in Count 2 reflecting a sentence of eleven months twenty-nine days.

This is an appeal from a final order entered on January 23, 2024. The notice of appeal was not filed with the Appellate Court Clerk until February 23, 2024, more than thirty days from the date of entry of the order from which the appellant is seeking to appeal. Because the notice of appeal was not timely filed, we have no jurisdiction to consider this appeal.

A Sevier County jury found the defendant, Christopher Joe Whaley, guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of drug paraphernalia, and a seatbelt violation for which he received an effective sentence of sixteen years in confinement. On appeal, the defendant contends the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction; the trial court erred in sentencing; and the judgments entered were incorrect and failed to properly award the defendant his pretrial jail credit. Upon our review of the record, the parties’ briefs, and oral arguments, we affirm the defendant’s convictions and sentences, but remand for the determination by the trial court as to whether the defendant is entitled to pretrial jail credit and for entry of corrected judgments in Counts 2 and 4.