Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and his office on Tuesday announced the conclusion of a Biden-era investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) into two state agencies who were accused of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Following an investigation that began in 2023, Skrmetti’s office on Tuesday wrote in a press release that the DOJ had “erroneously alleged violations” of the ADA by the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners (TBLE) and the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP), which it previously accused of discriminating against a man who was prescribed a medication for opioid use disorder.
“We are glad the Department of Justice has closed this misguided matter attacking common-sense guardrails protecting the integrity of the practice of law in Tennessee,” said Skrmetti in a Tuesday statement.
Describing the actions by the “Biden DOJ” as “baseless overreach,” Skrmetti wrote, “I’m proud of Tennessee’s track record of upholding the highest professional standards while ensuring that qualified people have equal opportunity to practice law, regardless of disability status.”
On December 26, 2024, only weeks before President Donald Trump would reenter the White House, it was reported that the DOJ sent a Letter of Findings to the Tennessee Supreme Court, claiming it found evidence the state agencies violated the act.
The findings arose out of complaints filed by a man, who has since been identified as Derek Scott, who began receiving treatment for his opioid addiction in 2012 after he started abusing opioids more than a decade earlier, and was prescribed the medication buprenorphine, which is used to to treat opioid abuse disorder. When seeking to obtain his law license in Tennessee, testing performed at the behest of the agencies determined the medication made him unfit for the license.
Although Skrmetti did not publish his response to the December 2024 letter from the Biden DOJ, he released a letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, which confirmed the DOJ had dropped the investigation.
“Based on your letter, we understand that TBLE and TLAP agree that they may consider the conduct of applicants to the bar, but cannot lawfully consider an applicant’s disability as a basis for denying membership or setting conditions of membership in the bar,” wrote Dhillon. “This matter is now closed.”
Skrmetti recently appeared on Michael Patrick Leahy Investigates, where he shared his concerns about the current state of collegiate athletes with the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, Michael Patrick Leahy.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jonathan Skrmetti” by Tennessee Attorney General.
