Former U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, who represented the First District of Tennessee for 12 years, was honored recently with a portrait unveiling in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing room. Roe served on the committee for his entire tenure in Congress and as chair for two years and ranking member for two years. "From the minute I stepped into office, I knew I wanted to serve on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee,” Roe said at the ceremony. “As a veteran myself, I experienced the faults of the VA and believed that with reform, we could improve the services for every man and woman that served our nation so bravely.” Read more in the Citizen Tribune.

Eleven members of Congress sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland this week requesting the U.S. Justice Department open an investigation into the Rutherford County juvenile justice system, WPLN reports. The group took the action following allegations by WPLN News and ProPublica that the county has illegally arrested and detained children for years. The signers, all Democrats, included Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis, who is on the House Judiciary Committee and chairs the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Read the letter here.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Wednesday on the U.S. Supreme Court’s so-called “shadow docket,” a term that describes the process by which the court issues emergency orders and summary decisions. Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, said in his opening statement that the shadow docket is undermining claims that the court is insulated from politics, and is being used for "more political and controversial decisions with results that appear on their face to be ideologically driven." Republicans on the committee said attacks on the court’s practices were “part of a concerted effort to intimidate and bully” the justices. The members also disagreed over the term “shadow docket” itself, the ABA Journal reports. Republicans said the term connotes something dark and scary. A law school professor called to testify before the group said the term is appropriate given the “unpredictable timing,” “lack of transparency” and “usual inscrutability” involved in these decisions.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to examine the U.S. Supreme Court's use of the so-called shadow docket, which refers to when the justices make decisions on emergency applications without full briefing or argument. The docket, critics argue, is increasingly being relied on in high-profile public policy disputes. The court recently used the truncated process to rule on significant disputes over immigration policy and federal eviction protections, and to leave intact a new Texas law that bans most abortions, The Hill reports. No date has been set yet for the hearing.

U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty has promoted legislative director Adam Telle to chief of staff following John Rader’s departure, the Nashville Post reports. Telle was part of a group of former Trump aides who joined the Tennessee Republican’s office following his 2020 election. In addition to his previous role as legislative director, Telle was Hagerty’s chief adviser. Under Trump, he led the White House Office of Legislative Affairs’ Senate team. Rader left the office to return to the private sector.

A new report from Goldman Sachs estimates 750,000 U.S. households will face eviction in the coming months if Congress does not act to address the issue. The report says between 2.5 million and 3.5 million households are delinquent on rent and owe a combined $12 billion to $17 billion to landlords. "The end of the eviction moratorium is likely to result in a sharp and rapid increase in eviction rates in coming months unless Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funding is distributed at a much faster pace or Congress addresses the issue," the report said. About $25 billion in federal aid has been dispersed to state and local governments, but only $4.5 billion has been distributed, according to the report. Nashville’s WSMV has the full story from CNN.

U.S. Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, and Chuck Fleischmann, R-Chattanooga, have introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to honor the bravery and legacy of the “Clinton 12” — the 12 students who desegregated Clinton High School in 1956. The students were among the first in Tennessee to desegregate a public high school and among the first in the south to desegregate any school after the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. The Tennessee Tribune has more on the effort and the text of the resolution.

President Joe Biden today nominated appellate lawyer Elizabeth Prelogar to serve as solicitor general, The Hill reports. Prelogar has spent seven months as acting solicitor general and has already argued two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court in the capacity. Prelogar has previously clerked for Attorney General Merrick Garland when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals and she served as assistant to the solicitor general from 2014 to 2019. If her nomination is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Prelogar would be the second woman in history to serve as solicitor general. 

A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday would add 203 federal trial court positions in 47 judicial districts around the country, a measure to alleviate what sponsors of the legislation called a "crisis" of growing caseloads. The “District Court Judgeships Act of 2021” would provide more than double the 77 judgeships the Judicial Conference of the United States requested in 26 districts for the next fiscal year, Reuters reports. The bill uses a calculation of 400 case filings per judgeship to determine the number of new judges the federal judiciary needs. Under the proposed legislation, one additional district judge would be added in the Middle and Eastern districts of Tennessee.

Gallatin resident Jack Jesse Griffith pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., the Tennessean reports. Griffith pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. He faces a $5,000 fine and a possible six months in jail with potential supervised release. He will also pay $500 in restitution. Griffith was captured on video participating in the riot and was arrested at his home in Gallatin on Jan. 16. He will be sentenced on Oct. 15.