The TBA YLD will hold a wills clinic on June 29 at 9 a.m. CDT at the Franklin Police Department, 900 Columbia Ave., Franklin 37064. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Charles Ferguson.

U.S. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota have introduced a bipartisan bill that would establish a national human trafficking database at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Tennessean reports that the program would compile state-level trafficking crime data, streamline connections with anti-trafficking and survivor support organizations, create incentives for state agencies to report data, and provide federal grants to support collection and reporting of data. A risk assessment index outlined in the bill is based on the success of a Tennessee data collection program facilitated by Belmont University’s Data Collaborative.

A new legal filing connects the former police lieutenant who filed a sweeping whistleblower complaint against the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to records in The Covenant School shooting investigation, Axios Nashville reports. Some of those records were later leaked. A sworn declaration filed Friday morning puts Lt. Garet Davidson at the center of investigation but does not explicitly state that he leaked the records. In a sworn statement, a former colleague says that Davidson was tasked with storing a hard drive containing the shooting investigation file in a safe last year, and that he was the only person with access to that safe at that time.

The U.S. Supreme Court today declared unlawful a federal ban on "bump stock" devices that enable semiautomatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns, The Hill reports. The case centered on how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) interpreted the National Firearms Act, which defined machine guns as weapons that can "automatically" fire more than one shot "by a single function of the trigger." The 6-3 ruling was authored by Justice Clarence Thomas. In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued the court had set aside the will of Congress to embrace an "artificially narrow definition" of a machine gun. In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito suggested that Congress could amend the law to successfully ban the devices.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, said Friday he is in conversations with the state Attorney General’s office to seek the removal of Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy for “dereliction of his office,” according to the Commercial Appeal. Mulroy's recent announcement of a diversion program for nonviolent felons who unlawfully possess a firearm has drawn pushback from state Republican officials including Sexton, who called the DA “soft on criminals” and accused him of “kowtowing to criminals once again.” Mulroy told the newspaper that Sexton's description of the diversion program was "a fundamental misunderstanding."

The Tennessee Supreme Court has directed the Board of Professional Responsibility to hold a hearing and file a recommendation related to its petition to temporarily suspend Arthur C. Grisham Jr. On April 29, the court suspended Grisham for failing to respond to a complaint against him. On May 23, Grisham filed a response to the suspension. On May 31, the board filed its response. After considering the two filings, the court determined that “factual disputes warrant a hearing.”

Gov. Bill Lee has requested a disaster declaration from President Joe Biden for Tennessee counties impacted by the May 8 and 9 tornado outbreak. WSMV reports that the state has requested assistance from two programs: Individual Assistance and Public Assistance. If granted, federal assistance would become available to Cannon, Cheatham, Giles, Hamilton, Jackson, Macon, Maury, Montgomery, Polk, Robertson, Rutherford Smith, Sumner and Warren counties. “Federal disaster assistance will bring much-needed economic relief and resources to help our communities and fellow Tennesseans recover from the devastation of these storms,” Lee said.

NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. After the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock decision, the U.S. Department of Education issued three documents under Title IX—each stating that the Department will now fully enforce Title IX to prohibit sexual orientation and gender identity. discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. The Department’s actions prompted twenty states to bring a pre-enforcement challenge. A district court granted the States a preliminary injunction. On interlocutory appeal, the Department challenges this ruling, arguing that the States lack standing, the Documents are unreviewable, and the district court abused its discretion in issuing the injunction. We disagree and affirm.

The Petitioner, Braylen Bennett, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that he was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel, that his guilty pleas were unknowing, unintelligent, and involuntary, and that the cumulative effect of trial counsel’s deficiencies in performance warrants post-conviction relief. Based on our review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

Plaintiff sued the owner of a hotel after she fell in its lobby. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, concluding that the defendant did not owe a duty to the plaintiff. Because the trial court’s order does not adequately explain how an expert report proffered by the plaintiff was treated in adjudicating the motion for summary judgment, we vacate and remand to the trial court for the entry of an order that addresses this issue.