The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kristen Clarke to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division, The Hill reports. Clarke will be the first Black woman in the role of assistant attorney general for civil rights. Republicans opposed Clarke’s nomination was deadlocked 11-11 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. But that did not prevent the nomination from going to the full Senate floor where it passed on a tight vote of 51-48. Before being nominated, Clarke was the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has joined 47 attorneys general in calling on congressional leaders to pass the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act —a resolution aimed at fighting scams that target seniors. The act would establish an advisory group to collect data from retailers, financial services and wire-transfer companies and use it to educate employees on how to identify and prevent scams against seniors. It would also create the Office for the Prevention of Fraud Targeting Seniors to help monitor emerging scams, disseminate information on common fraud schemes and more. Read more from the AG’s office.  

Tennessee’s elected officials are looking into reports that migrant children were flown to Chattanooga, loaded onto buses and transported to multiple cities across the southeast. Chattanooga TV station WRCB broke the story earlier this week. Gov. Bill Lee, who had declined a Biden administration request to house unaccompanied minors weeks ago, says he was not notified of the action. U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann have sent a letter to the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services saying they are “deeply troubled” by the lack of transparency and accountability. They also are calling for a halt to the flights and demanding a briefing from the Biden administration, WREG reports. State lawmakers also are speaking out. Several talk to the Tennessee Star. The news comes on the heels of reports in April that unaccompanied minors were being housed at a former Tennessee Temple dormitory in the Highland Park neighborhood of Chattanooga.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery this week signed a letter with 38 other state attorneys general asking Congress to pass the EAGLES Act. Named after the mascot of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed in 2018, the act is a national program to prevent targeted school violence. It would expand the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) with a greater focus on school violence prevention. The measure contains research and training components, allows dissemination of evidence-based practices and authorizes the NTAC to work with state and local officials to develop research and training. NTAC was created in 1998 to provide information on threat assessment to the Secret Service and began studying school violence after the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. Read more on the AG’s website.

The U.S. Senate yesterday passed legislation aimed at combating a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reports. The bill, which passed 94-1, now goes to the House of Representatives where leaders are expected to bring up their version of the legislation. The bill directs the Justice Department to designate an official to review coronavirus-related hate crimes and strengthen state and local resources. The move comes after a California State University study of 16 cities found a 149% increase in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans in 2020.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 position at the Justice Department, Reuters reports. Monaco, who was approved by a 98-2 vote, will oversee a vast portfolio encompassing criminal and national security investigations, as well as all U.S. Attorney's Offices across 94 districts. The deputy attorney general position is also instrumental in developing criminal justice policies, from sentencing to clemency. Prior to her confirmation, Monaco worked at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers. Before that, she served a variety of roles in the Justice Department and White House.

A group of Democratic lawmakers today introduced legislation that would expand the U.S. Supreme by four justices, the ABA Journal reports. The bill, called the Judiciary Act of 2021, was introduced by Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, Sen. Edward Markey, D-MA, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-GA, and Mondaire Jones, D-NY. “Thirteen justices for 13 circuits is a sensible progression,” Nadler said of the legislation. The Supreme court has had nine justices since 1869, according to Reuters. At other times, Congress has changed the size of the high court, ranging from six to 10 justices. President Joe Biden has previously indicated he is not a fan of “court packing.”

Madison County Juvenile Court Judge Christy Little and other local children’s advocates last week met with U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-TN, to discuss the needs of children dealing with mental illness and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the Jackson Sun reports. Little was joined by executives from the Madison County CASA and West Tennessee Healthcare and Juvenile Court Services Director Amy Jones. The group, hoping to obtain Hagerty’s support for federal funding, spoke with the senator about the financial issues that are preventing children in Madison County and rural West Tennessee from getting the things they need. Little added that children dealing with ACEs and other mental illness need more consistent and permanent help from an early age. “And if we could somehow get funding for that type of help on the front end, it would solve a lot of issues we deal with when they come into this courtroom,” she said.

Nashville nonprofit leader Odessa Kelly today announced plans to challenge longtime U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, in the August 2022 party primary. Kelly has the support of Justice Democrats, the national organization that helped elevate “The Squad” — a group of left-leaning members of the House of Representatives. She is the first candidate to be endorsed by the group for the 2022 cycle and would be the first openly gay Black woman to represent Tennessee in the nation’s capital. Cooper, who has represented the 5th Congressional District since 2003, has developed a reputation as a moderate Democrat, the Nashville Scene reports.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday unanimously approved Lisa Monaco, the Biden administration’s nominee for deputy attorney general nominee, by voice vote without debate. If confirmed by the full Senate she will serve as the second ranking official at the Department of Justice. The committee then turned its attention to the nomination of Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the third ranking official at the department. After a “bitterly divided” debate, the committee forwarded the nomination to the full Senate on a tied vote, Reuters reports.