A new Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report released this month shows calls and tips to the TBI's human trafficking hotline have jumped more than 400% since 2016, reports the Tennessean. TBI's human trafficking team received 1,291 hotline tips in 2023, up from 245 in 2016. The 10-page report provides a snapshot of how the TBI is working to address the issue.

State Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, yesterday requested two state bodies launch investigations into the professional behavior of Shelby County District Attorney (DA) Steve Mulroy and Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan, reports the Commercial Appeal. Taylor asked the Board of Professional Responsibility and the Board of Judicial Conduct to look into two cases in which Skahan altered a 162-year sentence for nonviolent offenses and changed a death penalty sentence to life in prison. Taylor told the paper that the judge and the DA had no authority to “collude to get a predetermined outcome to a hearing.”

Tennessee’s prison population is growing faster than the majority of states, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Justice, WKRN reports. The report found Tennessee saw almost an 8% increase in incarcerated people, adding 1,740 more individuals into state prisons. The only states with a higher percent increase were Colorado, Mississippi and Montana. Nashville criminal defense attorney David Raybin called the rise “alarming" noting it is likely due to the “Truth in Sentencing” bill enacted in 2022 requiring violent offenders to serve their full sentence.

Secretary of State Tre Hargett on Tuesday certified nine Republicans and one Democratic presidential candidate for the “Super Tuesday” presidential primary and county primary elections to be held March 5, 2024. On Super Tuesday, 15 other states will join Tennessee in helping decide each party’s presidential nominee. Presidential primary candidates have until Dec. 12 at noon to withdraw their name from the ballot. Early voting will run from Feb. 14-27. Read the full list of nominees as reported by the Chattanoogan.

The Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges today announced its support of efforts to increase the hourly rate of compensation paid to court-appointed attorneys in juvenile court. The Tennessee Supreme Court recently announced its intention to ask the General Assembly for additional funding to increase compensation for court-appointed attorneys in juvenile and criminal cases. Recent news reports from the Tennessean and WSMV have highlighted the challenges courts are facing in finding enough lawyers to take appointed cases. The TBA has long advocated for increased rates and caps for the many court-appointed attorneys who represent the indigent. It remains committed to working with the Supreme Court, the Administrative Office of the Courts, the legislature and Gov. Bill Lee’s administration to create meaningful solutions to this problem.

A Texas judge today ruled that a woman with an alleged non-viable pregnancy can get an abortion, in what her lawyers say is the first such case since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to ban the procedure. Reuters reports that the woman sought a temporary restraining order on Tuesday to prevent Texas from enforcing the state's near-total ban on abortion, saying her continued pregnancy threatened her health and future fertility. Her fetus was diagnosed on Nov. 27 with trisomy 18, a genetic abnormality that usually results in miscarriage, stillbirth or death soon after birth. The state's abortion ban includes a narrow exception to save the mother's life or prevent substantial impairment of a major bodily function.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, The Daily Wire and The Federalist filed a lawsuit in federal court yesterday alleging the U.S. State Department is funding technologies that could censor right-leaning news outlets, Reuters reports. The group argues that the technology being used by the center could "render disfavored press outlets unprofitable," specifically citing funding that went to GDI and NewsGuard. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in October to hear arguments by two Republican attorneys general alleging the administration suppressed conservative-leaning speech and social media.

A Nashville resident is seeking an expedited ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court after a special three-judge panel of state court judges found Tennessee state Senate district boundaries to be unconstitutional. Attorneys for Francie Hunt filed a request yesterday, Tennessee Lookout reports. Simultaneously, a West Tennessee resident is appealing the panel’s finding that the House redistricting plan was constitutional. The challenge by Trenton resident Gary Wygant also seeks an expedited ruling. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is opposing both motions. His office says Hunt has no standing to sue, while Wygant fails to show “good cause” to suspend the normal schedule since a new House map is not needed. The panel of state judges gave the General Assembly until Jan. 31 to redraw the Senate lines.

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will lie in repose in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall on Dec. 18 prior to her funeral service the next day, the court announced yesterday. A private ceremony will be held that day at 9:30 a.m. EST. The public is invited to pay respects from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. The invitation-only funeral service will take place Dec. 19 at the National Cathedral. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to iCivics, a public education program that O’Connor supported during her life.

Megan Barry, the former mayor of Nashville, officially launched a campaign today to unseat U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Republican from Clarksville who represents the 7th Congressional District. WKRN reports that Barry cited dysfunction in Congress, worsening opioid crisis, rise in gun violence and closure of rural hospitals as reasons for her run. Barry served as the first female mayor of Nashville from 2015-2018, when she resigned from office following news of an affair with a member of her security detail. She pleaded guilty to felony theft of property over $10,000 for using taxpayer funds to conduct the affair and received three years of unsupervised probation and had to pay $11,000 in restitution.