Judge Bernice Donald, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives on “The Importance of a Diverse Federal Judiciary.” Donald appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and spoke about how diversity on the bench reinforces the legitimacy of the institution of the courts and respect for the rule of law among the public. She also spoke about how diversity of lived experiences helps judicial panels look more like the people they serve, an element, she said, which is essential for our concept of justice. Read more about the hearing from Law.com.

A bill that would strike the name of the late Clifford Davis from Memphis's downtown federal building passed the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation Committee today, the Commercial Appeal reports. The bill, sponsored by Memphis Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, would keep the other name on the building, that of Odell Horton, the state’s first Black federal judge following the Reconstruction Era. Cohen spoke to the committee about Davis's racist past, noting that had been a strong proponent of Jim Crow laws and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The bill now goes to the House floor for a vote.

The U.S. House passed two bills yesterday that would grant legal status to two groups of immigrants living and working in the United States without documentation, Tennessee Lookout reports. The first provides a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands brought to the country as children who now are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The second bill would give legal status to agricultural workers. The Biden administration supports both bills but also noted it wants Congress to take up broader immigration reform, like the U.S. Citizenship Act. That bill, based on Biden’s policy priorities, would pair these measures with efforts to give legal status to millions more immigrants, fund border security measures and provide aid to Latin American countries to address the root causes of migration.

Members of the Democratic Women's Caucus have introduced legislation to create a monument in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the U.S. Capitol or on capitol grounds, WSMV reports. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, has introduced a companion bill in the Senate. Ginsburg died in September 2020 at age 87 after serving for 27 years on the high court.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and Secretary of State Tre Hargett have signed letters written by their Republican colleagues criticizing H.R. 1, a Democratic-backed federal voting rights bill making its way through the U.S. legislature. Slatery signed on to a letter written by the Indiana attorney general contending that the measure betrays “Constitutional deficiencies and alarming mandates that, if passed, would federalize state elections and impose burdensome costs and regulations on state and local officials.” Hargett signed on to a letter written by the Alabama secretary of state, which claims the bill is “a dangerous overreach by the federal government” into state-run elections. The bill passed the U.S. House along party lines last week. Tennessee Lookout has more on the legislation.

The U.S. Senate today confirmed Merrick Garland as the nation’s next attorney general, The Hill reports. Senators voted 70-30 to approve the nomination, easily topping the 50 votes needed. The paper notes that the vote came just days before the five-year anniversary of when then-President Obama nominated Garland to fill the U.S. Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Garland never received a hearing on that nomination. He has been serving on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1997.

The American Bar Association is asking leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to support key legal reforms involving the federal courts, access to legal services, the criminal justice system and immigration. ABA President Patricia Lee Refo sent a second letter to leaders of the Senate and House Appropriations Committee urging them to support more money for the federal courts, Legal Services Corporation and rural broadband. Here is the letter to the Judiciary Committee and the letter to the Appropriations Committee.  

A U.S. House subcommittee yesterday heard from three federal judges who spoke about case delays and high workloads as lawmakers considered whether to expand the number of federal judgeships, the ABA Journal reports. Judges and law professors said they feared litigants may think they can’t get their day in court as cases are delayed and oral arguments are curbed due to increased filings that don’t match increases in federal judgeships. The last time Congress increased the number of judgeships was in 2002, and then only a handful were added. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle showed interest in expanding judgeships, but there were disagreements over timing and whether to split the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco.

In a “blistering” opinion last week, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Washington, D.C., said a Nashville man and his mother, charged in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, must stay in custody because their release on bail would threaten national security. Eric Munchel, dubbed "zip tie guy" in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and his mother Lisa Eisenhart, now will be held until their trials, the Tennessean reports. Federal prosecutors say they were part of the mob that stormed the Capitol to stop lawmakers from certifying the election of President Joe Biden. The pair face federal charges of obstructing an official proceeding, unlawful entry and violent entry. A Nashville-based magistrate judge had initially said the pair could be released while they awaited trial. Judge Lamberth’s ruling overturned that decision.

Judge Merrick Garland, denied a Supreme Court confirmation hearing five years ago, appeared today before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as President Joe Biden's pick for attorney general, National Public Radio reports. During the proceeding, he vowed that the Justice Department would make protecting civil rights and combating domestic terrorism top priorities and acknowledged that communities of color still face discrimination in housing, education, employment and the criminal justice system. According to Law.com, he also assured senators he remains committed to an independent Justice Department. Garland has served for more than 20 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He previously was a special assistant to the attorney general and later a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. During the Clinton administration, he served in the deputy attorney general's office where he oversaw the prosecutions of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.