JURIST - Tennessee

On February 25, 2008, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee objecting to a Tennessee state law that required convicted felons to pay outstanding financial obligations, including restitution and child support....... [more]

A judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee ruled Friday that a Tennessee law that restricts online sex advertising is unconstitutional. The law came in response to concerns of human trafficking in Tennessee and created criminal penalties for advertising commercial sex act....... [more]

The Tennessee Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the state's voter identification law Thursday while upholding the validity of Memphis public library cards as acceptable forms of voter ID. The state had argued that the Memphis library is not an entity of the state as defined in the law as an a....... [more]

A judge for the Davidson County Chancery Court in Tennessee on Wednesday ruled that Tennessee's voter identification law does not violate the state's Constitution. Civil rights attorney George Barrett argued before the court that the requirement that residents show proof of ID is unduly burdensome....... [more]

JURIST Guest Columnist Robert C. Blitt of the University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Law argues that legislation recently introduced in Tunisia proposing to criminalize blasphemy underscores a pattern in predominantly Muslim countries that the US and other countries should contest in an effort....... [more]

A lawyer for a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) plaintiffs in Tennessee said Wednesday that she will appeal the decision of a Tennessee County judge dismissing a lawsuit challenging a controversial law. The suit challenges Tennessee's Equal Access to Intrastate Commerce Act (E....... [more]

On June 20, 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled in the case of American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, deciding that there is no standing for claims made under federal common law of nuisance relating to the contribution to climate by electric utilities. The case involved land trusts, power companie....... [more]

The Tennessee House of Representatives has passed a bill that augments the state's abstinence-only sex education curriculum to allow parents to sue school teachers or organizations that promote "gateway sexual activity." The bill went to the governor for consideration on Tuesday. The bill defines "g....... [more]

On November 4, 2010, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and 12 other state attorneys general filed an amici curiae brief before the US Supreme Court, supporting Arizona's Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA). The law imposes sanctions on employers that hire illegal immigrants. The case, Chamber of C....... [more]

On September 19, 2007, the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee ruled that Tennessee's execution procedures constituted "cruel and unusual" punishment. US District Judge Aleta Trauger held that revised death penalty protocols in the state did not ensure that prisoners' are properly....... [more]

On August 20, 2008, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment to a Tennessee public high school in a lawsuit brought by three students who claimed the school's ban on wearing the Confederate flag violated their First Amendment rights under th....... [more]