Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer in-studio to discuss the unavailability of Tennessee Supreme Court Justic Jeffrey Bivins to be interviewed as the retention election draws near.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court, which is the body that appoints the state’s attorney general, has yet to announce an official process in the search to replace Attorney General Herbert Slatery who leaves office at the end of August.
The process is expected to be conducted in a similar manner as the one that yielded Slatery. He has served as Tennessee’s attorney general since 2014 and not seeking an additional eight-year term.
Read the full story
Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed official guest host Aaron Gulbransen in-studio to discuss the call for transparency by the Tennessee Supreme Court’s process in the election of a state attorney general.
Read the full story
The Beacon Center of Tennessee filed a brief in the Tennessee Supreme Court supporting Violaine Panasci, an attorney who was denied admission to the Tennessee Bar.
Panasci was denied admission to the Tennessee Bar, according to Beacon, because she went “to the wrong law school.”
Read the full story
In a statement provided to The Tennessee Star Friday, Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) Chair Scott Golden reacted to the unanimous decision by the Tennessee Supreme Court that “completely vindicated” the party’s actions in determining that Robby Starbuck, a disqualified Tennessee 5th Congressional District candidate, was not a bona fide Republican because he did not meet the requirements as outline in the bylaws.
Golden said, “We very much appreciate the unanimous decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court today. The ruling completely vindicated the actions of the Tennessee Republican Party and affirmed our authority to ensure that only Bona Fide Republicans are allowed to be Republican candidates for office.”
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Tennessee Republican Party, vacating the injunction ordering Robby Starbuck on the August Republican Primary ballot and ruled that the TRP is not subject to the Tennessee Open Meetings Act.
The Court stated that Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins erred in his decision.
Read the full story
Robby Starbuck’s legal team filed the required response on Thursday morning with the State Supreme Court to the state of Tennessee’s petition filing which seeks to have Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Perkins’ order adding him to the ballot overturned.
Starbuck had until 10am to file the response, per the order of the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court will not hear oral arguments in their expedited review of Robert Starbuck Newsom v. Tennessee Republican Party Et Al. case.
According to the case status website, a deputy clerk, and the press officer for the Tennessee Courts System, the case will be decided on briefs only.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court has assumed jurisdiction of the Tennessee Republican Party’s appeal of Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins’ ruling ordering disqualified TN-5 candidate Robby Starbuck on the August 4 Republican primary ballot.
The Court assumed jurisdiction over the objections of Starbuck’s legal team, who argued in a brief that their involvement was not warranted. Clearly, the Court disagreed.
Read the full story
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy and all-star panelist Carmichael discuss the method in which the Tennessee constitution dictates the selection of an attorney general in the state.
Read the full story
Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed new official guest host Aaron Gulbransen in-studio to have a discussion questioning the governor’s power to rubber-stamp an attorney general for the state of Tennessee.
Read the full story
Sources familiar with the thinking of Governor Bill Lee and his team tell The Tennessee Star that Governor Lee believes that “it is already a done deal” that his preferred choice for attorney general, Brandon Gibson, will get the appointment.
The sources spoke with The Star on background and one said, “It is very well thought by Governor Lee’s team and highest corners of office in the executive branch that the open Attorney General seat is a lock to go to Brandon Gibson.”
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Governor Bill Lee’s school voucher program is constitutional. The voucher program only applies to failing schools in Davidson County and Shelby County.
The court said in a statement, “The Tennessee Supreme Court determined that, while two Tennessee county governments had standing to challenge the Education Savings Account Pilot Program (the “ESA Act”), the Act is not rendered unconstitutional by the Home Rule Amendment, article XI, section 9, of the Tennessee Constitution.”
Read the full story
The appointment of Tennessee’s attorney general is a process unique to this state.
The attorney general is appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court and is the only state attorney general that is a member of the judicial branch, not the executive branch.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court, which in turn is empowered to appoint the state’s attorney general, is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly.
The Tennessee Supreme Court is currently made up of justices Jeffrey S. Bivins, Sarah K. Campbell, Holly Kirby, Sharon G. Lee, and Roger A. Page.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court, which appoints the state attorney general, is likely to appoint a new one this year via a public application and hearing process in a similar manner to the one it used in 2014 to appoint Attorney General Herbert Slatery.
Slatery, who has been Tennessee’s attorney general since 2014, is not seeking an additional eight-year term.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court struck down a temporary injunction issued by a three-judge panel that would have mandated drawing new state Senate districts.
Originally, a ruling from the lower court forced the legislative body to “fix” the boundaries within 15 days of the decision, or the judicial branch would have created its own map.
Read the full story
Legislation being considered by the Tennessee General Assembly would eliminate the current practice of state courts giving deference to state agencies in interpreting statutes or rules in a contested case. If passed, the law would require that state courts interpret the state or rule de novo or from the beginning or start.
Sen. Mike Bell (R-Riceville) presented the bill, SB2285, Wednesday to the Senate Government Operations Committee, of which he is a member. While committee members often present their bills from their usual chair, Bell told Chairman Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) he would be going to the podium, expecting he might be using his hands a bit.
Read the full story
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Wednesday nominated Sarah Campbell to fill a vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court, according to a release from the governor’s office.
Campbell, who currently serves as the Associate Solicitor General and Special Assistant to the Attorney General, would take the place of Justice Cornelia Clark, who passed away in September.
Read the full story
Governor Bill Lee announced on Wednesday that he will hire former federal prosecutor Jonathan Skrmetti as his chief legal counsel.
Skrmetti, who serves as the Chief Deputy Attorney General, was under consideration for an open state Supreme Court vacancy.
Read the full story
Staff at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) announced Tuesday that, in 2022, workers’ compensation insurance premiums are likely to decline for most Tennessee businesses for the ninth consecutive year.
TDCI officials, in a press release, attribute the savings to workers comp reforms that the state enacted in the previous decade.
“Since Tennessee’s workers’ compensation system reforms began in 2014, loss cost reductions of over 59 percent have been approved, representing substantial savings for Tennessee employers,” according to the TDCI press release.
Read the full story
When speaking to the Nashville Rotary Club on Monday, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery announced his opposition to a measure that would require the attorney general’s confirmation to be approved by state lawmakers.
Arguing the potential requirement would turn the office into a “political office,” Slatery continued to support the appointment process by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Read the full story
Members of the Tennessee Supreme Court announced Friday they will not involve themselves in legal action between the Davidson County Election Commission and the Metro Nashville Government over the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. Court officials announced this Friday.
Read the full story
A Nashville attorney received one year active suspension and three years’ probation for offering advice on how to get away with murder. Judge Holly Kirby of the Tennessee Supreme Court issued the ruling against attorney Winston Bradshaw Sitton last Friday, calling it a “cautionary tale on the ethical problems that can befall lawyers on social media.”
Sitton had posted the comment in question on a 2017 Facebook post from a woman, Lauren Houston, who was trying to leave an allegedly abusive relationship. At the time, the two had been friends on the site for about a year. The contested comments appeared on a post in which Houston asked whether it was legal to carry a firearm in her car without paying for a permit.
Read the full story
Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the American Federation for Children’s Tennessee State Director Shaka Mitchell to the newsmakers line to discuss the pending lawsuit for Governor Lee’s new education savings account pilot program.
Read the full story
A trio of organizations filed an amicus brief in the Tennessee Supreme Court asking justices to accept an appeal of a lawsuit over the educational savings account (ESA).
The American Federation for Children joined Latinos for Tennessee and the Memphis Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the filing. The AFC is an affiliate of the the Alliance for School Choice.
Read the full story
The Nashville Bar Association (NBA) has petitioned the Tennessee Supreme Court to modify its rules to require two hours of training on an annual basis to cover the topic of critical race theory.
Critical race theory is “the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color,” according to Britannica.
Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the Vice President of Legal Affairs at The Beacon Center Braden Boucek to the show to discuss the recent ruling regarding the school voucher program in Tennessee.
Read the full story
Tennessee State Supreme Court Justice Holly Kirby spoke to University of Tennessee at Martin (UT-Martin) students for Constitution Day on September 17.
Kirby spoke to about 50 students via Zoom, said Student Government Association President Hunter McCloud. McCloud told The Tennessee Star that Kirby spoke about the rule of law.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday concerning the citizens’ right to vote via absentee ballot.
The cases presented (Earle J. Fisher et al. v. Tre Hargett et al. and Benjamin Lay et al. v. Mark Goins et al.) have become the focal point of the ongoing debate surrounding the efficacy of absentee and mail-in ballots and voters’ rights to absentee and mail-in ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court announced on Thursday it was canceling the July 28-29 administration of the Uniform Bar Examination.
Read the full story
Tennessee’s highest court declined Thursday to take up an appeal of a lawsuit challenging the legality of a school voucher program that would let parents use public tax dollars for private school tuition.
Voucher supporters had hoped the Tennessee Supreme Court would reach down and take up the case after an appellate court set an Aug. 5 hearing to review the case.
Read the full story
Back in 1971, the Tennessee General Assembly quickly ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which lowered the voting age in all elections–federal, state and local– to 18 in every state. By doing so, they voluntarily give up a section of the Tennessee State Constitution. Here’s that story: During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Vietnam War — with which the United States was heavily involved — continued to rage overseas. With so many American soldiers — several of them younger than 20 years of age — dying on the battlefields of a foreign land in this War, public opinion within the United States began to shift in terms of by what age a person should become eligible to vote. At the time, an individual had to be at least 21 years of age in order to register to vote. But with the evolution in social sentiment occasioned at least in part by the Vietnam War, Congress began to take steps to lower that age from 21 down to 18. A popular slogan of the day was “if you are old enough to fight for your country, then you are old enough to cast a…
Read the full story
Several of the 14 candidates who will be on the ballot in the special election for Mayor of Nashville reacted on Tuesday to the news that the Tennessee Supreme Court has decided that the date of the election should be set between May 21 and May 25, rather than on August 2 as previously determined by the Davidson County Election Commission. “The Supreme Court has ruled, and I’ll be ready for the election,” Acting Mayor David Briley said in a statement, Fox 17 reported. “I appreciate all the support I’ve already received, and I’m looking forward to a strong campaign over the next six weeks,” Briley added. “Congratulations to Chief Justice Bivins and the Tennessee Supreme Court for its unanimous decision upholding the rule of law in Tennessee,” former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain, who earlier in the day received the endorsement of conservative author and film maker Dinesh D’Souza for her candidacy for Mayor of Nashville, said in a statement. “I especially applaud former NAACP President Ludye Wallace for his courage and leadership on this critical matter,” she added. “We the People can individually and collectively ‘Be the People’ who change colonies, states, and nations,” Swain noted. At-Large Metro Council member…
Read the full story
On Tuesday, the Tennessee Supreme Court released a unanimous opinion that instructs the Davidson County Election Commission to set the date for the special election to select a new mayor of Metro Nashville Davidson County Government for any date between May 21 and May 25. The stunning decision overrules the Davidson County Election Commission’s prior decision to set the date at August 2. Mayoral candidate Ludye Wallace was the plaintiff in the case. He was represented by attorney Jamie Hollin. “David beat Goliath,” Hollin told The Star in an exclusive interview. The five Tennessee Supreme Court Justices who ruled unanimously in favor of Wallace were Chief Justice Jeffrey Bivins, and Justices Cornelia Clark, Sharon Lee, Holly Kirby, and Roger Page. News Channel 5 reported: The Davidson County Election Commission voted in March to hold the mayoral election on August 2. Mayoral Candidate Ludye Wallace filed a lawsuit shortly after that vote, claiming the Election Commission violated the Metro Charter and state law with the vote. Both sides presented their arguments to justices Monday afternoon. On Tuesday, the court’s decision reversed a ruling of the Davidson County Chancery Court that upheld the action of the Davidson County Election Commission in setting the election…
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court reaffirmed its role as champion as the rule of law in the Volunteer State on Thursday when it agreed to hear an appeal of a lower court’s decision to set the date for the Nashville mayoral election at August 2. You can read the Court’s Order Granting the Motion to Assume Jurisdiction here: [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Order-Granting-Motion-to-Assume-Jurisdiction.pdf” title=”Order Granting Motion to Assume Jurisdiction”] The Court granted mayoral candidate Ludye Wallace’s petition for an expedited hearing of his appeal of Chancery Court Judge Claudia Bonnyman’s decision to set the special election date at August 2 rather than May 1, the date Wallace’s attorney Jamie Hollin said was required by a plain reading of the law. Hollin has until March 29 to submit the Petitioner’s Brief to the Court. Metro Nashville Government has until April 4 to submit Respondent’s Brief. Oral arguments will be heard on Monday, April 9. “We are grateful that the Supreme Court decided to assume jurisdiction of this case as it involves the election of Metro Nashville’s most important elected office, Mayor,” Wallace’s attorneys Hollin and Daniel Horwitz said in a statement. “We are optimistic that the unambiguous terms of the Metro Charter and the clearly…
Read the full story
The Republican dominated General Assembly has already moved the appointment of judges to the Governor and if they have their way this legislative session, they will continue to keep the selection of the state’s chief law enforcement officer out of the reach of Tennessee voters as well. Forty-three states elect their Attorney General. Sen. Ken Yager (R-Kingston), chief sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 611 which partially reforms selection of the State Attorney General, has previously stated that selecting an AG through popular election is the least-preferred method of selection Yager’s resolution would instead require the General Assembly to confirm the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Attorney General nominee and if rejected, require the court to submit another nominee. The AG’s term would also be reduced from eight years to four years. In the past, the state’s Supreme Court has held a public hearing during which lawyers applying for the AG position made presentations in open court. However, most of the court’s process is kept from public view. Judges conduct private interviews of the candidates and there is no record of how they vote on the AG nominee. Yager’s resolution would open the Supreme Court’s process – “[t]he nomination shall be made by the Supreme Court in open court…
Read the full story
By David Tulis / Noogaradio 1240 AM 92.7 FM Gubernatorial candidate and free-range motorist Basil Marceaux will appear before a Hamilton County Circuit Court next week to argue in one of a series of criminal cases whose defense is sending shudders through the legal system. Mr. Marceaux, 64, of Soddy-Daisy, has been in legal wrangling with the state’s judicial industrial complex for 16 years over the constitutional right to travel and the effects of policing on liberty. The main argument before Judge Neil Thomas on May 1 is that courts, lawyers, and city and county governments are ignoring a 2001 Tennessee Supreme Court case that quashes cities’ authority to punish people who are criminally accused. Mr. Marceaux had been given two weeks by Judge Thomas — and an extension — to propose how the jurist is to hear Mr. Marceaux’ appeal from Soddy-Daisy City Court under Judge Marty Lasley. The longtime legal activist insists that the Tennessee Supreme Court says that Tennessee cities are civil only, and do not have authority to exercise criminal jurisdiction and punishment. According to two cases from the high court, city jurisdiction is civil. Thus criminal cases cannot be heard in non-juried non-record courts such…
Read the full story