Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti Celebrates Distribution of Almost $81 Million from Opioid Company Lawsuits

AG Skrmetti Money

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on Friday issued a statement celebrating the recent distribution of nearly $81 million accrued through lawsuit settlements against opioid manufacturers.

A press release explained the funding is available as a result of years of litigation against “opioid manufacturers and distributors” by the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.

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Texas Schools Pull $8.5 Billion from BlackRock over ESG

Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey

The Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) is pulling $8.5 billion from the investment firm BlackRock over its use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies.

The board informed the investment firm that it was being terminated as the manager of the Navarro 1 Fund in a Tuesday letter, which it provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The divestment represents the largest from the private firm, according to Fox Business Network.

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Tennessee Joins Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Case Against FDA

TN AG Jonathan Skrmetti

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined in filing an amicus brief with 21 other state attorneys general in a case being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court that could decide the fate of a popular abortion pill.

“This case is about protecting the authority of the people of Tennessee to govern themselves,” Skrmetti stated, according to the attorney general’s website. “In our system, major policy decisions are made by the people through their elected representatives and decisions about abortion law are made by state governments. The U.S. Constitution prevents federal bureaucrats from undermining Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act no matter how much they disagree with it.”

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Federal Court Bars NCAA from Enforcing NIL-Recruitment Ban After Legal Challenge by AGs of TN and VA

Skrmetti UT

The Eastern District Court of Tennessee granted Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s preliminary injunction request in his lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) illegal name, image, and likeness (NIL)-recruitment ban on Friday.

Through its NIL recruitment ban, the NCAA prohibits prospective student-athletes from discussing potential NIL opportunities with schools and collectives prior to enrolling. Specifically, the ban prohibits student-athletes from negotiating with collectives, reviewing NIL offers before making enrollment decisions, and adequately considering the full scope of NIL-related services a school might offer upon enrollment.

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Attorney General Skrmetti Declares Tennessee House Ticketing System Follows State Constitution

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti confirmed on Thursday that the new ticketing system for members of the public to attend meetings of the Tennessee House of Representatives follows the Tennessee Constitution.

The legal opinion was requested after House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) announced a new ticketing system that limits half of the public gallery to media members, with members of the public and congressional staff only allowed with a ticket. Lawmakers are each given one ticket to distribute as they see fit.

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BlackRock Touting Tennessee Investments in X Advertisement

Blackrock Ad

In an advertisement on X, formerly Twitter, the hedge fund BlackRock is touting its investments in the state of Tennessee.

“BlackRock invested in the future of Tennessee,” the ad says. “On behalf of our clients, BlackRock has invested over $36.5 billion in public companies across Tennessee and nearly 1 in 12 Tennesseans benefit from the public pensions we manage.” 

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Attorney General Skrmetti Leading Coalition of More than 40 States in Suing Meta over Children’s Mental Health

Tennessee’s Attorney General is leading a bipartisan coalition of 42 states in suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging that Instagram causes mental health harms to its young users.

“Meta has known for years that Instagram causes psychological harm to young users,” said General Skrmetti in a Tuesday press release. “Rather than take steps to reduce or disclose the harm, Meta leaned further in to its profit-maximizing approach that hurts kids.  Targeting kids with a harmful product and lying about its safety violates the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. Meta knows every last design decision that made Instagram addictive to kids and that means it knows exactly how to fix the problem. We’re suing to make the company fix the problem.”

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AG Skrmetti Files Lawsuit Against Massive Chemical Companies for Negative Health Effects on Tennesseans

Tennessee’s attorney general Thursday announced a lawsuit against several of the largest chemical manufacturers in the country for the health damage he says they caused to Tennesseeans.

Companies including 3M, DuPont, and Chemours create products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. One of those products, according to Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R), is called Aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF).

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Attorney General Skrmetti Co-Hosting Donation Drive for Pregnancy Centers on Anniversary of Dobbs Ruling

According to a news release from Republican Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office, General Skrmetti is a co-hosting a charity drive for pregnancy centers as the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization nears. 

That 2022 court case overturned the infamous Roe v. Wade, returning to states the right to make their own abortion rights. 

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Attorney General Skrmetti’s Office Denounces Healthcare Fraud After Allegations that Tennessee Companies are Giving Bogus Diagnoses for Sex Change Surgeries

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office responded Thursday to a report from conservative Daily Wire commentator and filmmaker Matt Walsh, saying that companies operating in Tennessee are allegedly writing bogus diagnoses of gender dysphoria in order to help people obtain sex change surgeries via insurance.

Walsh noted that these alleged scammers are operating in Tennessee, prompting The Tennessee Star to ask the Attorney General’s office for a comment.

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Attorney General Skrmetti Warns Biden Administration to Follow the Law During Debt Ceiling Negotiations

After President Joe Biden said he would invoke the 14th Amendment if Congress did not agree to raise the debt ceiling, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led other state attorneys general from across the country in telling Biden that such an action would be unlawful.

“We, the undersigned chief legal officers of 19 states, write in response to your recent assertion that you have the authority to ignore federal law and raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval,” Skrmetti wrote in letter signed by 19 other state attorneys general. “You do not. Our constitutional system may be frustrating at times, but it is the fundamental guarantor of American liberty, and we must all abide by the oaths we swore to defend it.”

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Skrmetti and 15 Other AGs Back Florida Transgender Medicaid Rule

Sixteen state attorneys general weighed in on Florida’s rule blocking Medicaid funds from transgender medical interventions on the grounds that they are experimental.

“From the Founding, states have exercised their authority to enact health and safety measures—regulating the medical profession, restricting access to potentially dangerous medicines, banning unsafe or unproven treatments,” the 16 Republican attorneys general write in the brief, a copy of which was provided exclusively to The Daily Signal.

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