Tennessee News

Two proposed constitutional rewrites changing how Tennessee selects Supreme Court and appellate judges have been approved in the state Senate.

With rising special-interest spending in state judicial elections, there is an urgent need to protect judicial integrity from the flood of campaign cash. Tennessee is leading the way with a new rule prohibiting judges from hearing cases when campaign spending by lawyers or litigants raises a reasonable question of their impartiality.

Governor Bill Haslam, Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) and House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) announced a joint proposal to address how judges are chosen in Tennessee.

The sponsor of a proposal to strip state courts of the power to block laws enacted by the Tennessee General Assembly quietly withdrew the bill on Monday after receiving heavy criticism from both sides of the political aisle.

When the Tennessee Legislature debated tort reform earlier this year, with a lot of discussion of how the issue had played out in Mississippi, it was difficult to pin down lawmakers on exactly how to quantify the job creation involved.

A state senator has proposed an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution that aims to strike a balance between concerns that Tennessee’s highest judges are unconstitutionally appointed and fears that the judiciary would be too heavily influenced by money, politics and special interests if there were statewide popular elections for the appellate courts.

Gibson Guitar Corp.'s chief slammed the U.S. government on Wednesday for sending armed agents to raid two Tennessee factories under a law aimed at curbing the illegal harvest of tropical hardwoods.