The Legal Services Corporation is asking Congress to earmark up to half a billion dollars to keep funding free civil legal aid to low-income Americans during a time when legal assistance is badly needed to weather the impact of the pandemic. LSC President Ronald S. Flagg said the organization has asked the House Appropriations Committee to include an amount between $350 million and $500 million in the next COVID-19 relief package. Congress appropriated $50 million for the LSC in the 2020 CARES Act. Flagg says that funding was helpful but not nearly enough to keep up with increased demand for services in recent months. The HEROES Act, passed in December 2020, did not include funding for the organization.

A wave of federal judges have announced their departures in recent weeks, creating a growing number of vacant seats in the federal judiciary, The Hill reports. There are currently 57 vacancies in the federal district and appellate courts and another 20 seats that will become vacant in the coming months. At least 25 of those vacancies were announced after President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Data suggests that the administration of former President Donald Trump was one of the most prolific in the modern era regarding judicial confirmations. Within four years, Trump successfully appointed 226 judges to the federal bench, including three Supreme Court justices, 54 appeals court judges and 174 district court judges, according to the Pew Research Center. He lags behind only former President Carter in terms of the total number of judicial appointments in any recent president’s first four years. President Reagan, who appointed four Supreme Court justices in eight years, is the only recent president who left a larger footprint on the high court.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper’s wife, Martha Cooper, died today after a years-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, the Tennessean reports. She was 66. The Coopers were married for 35 years and share three children, according to an obituary written by the congressman. Davidson County District Attorney General Glenn Funk extended his condolences, commenting that the grace and dignity "she shared with all Tennesseans throughout her life should serve as an inspiration and example to us all.” A private ceremony will be held for family only due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty has added a number of new staff to his office in Washington, D.C., Knoxnews reports. Hagerty last week announced a staff of 23 in his D.C. office, including 13 who previously worked in the Trump administration. John Rader, a Cookeville native, will be Hagerty's chief of staff. Rader served in Trump's administration as deputy assistant to the president for strategic initiative, as a policy and strategy advisor on the National Security Council and as deputy director of presidential appointments. Hagerty also recently announced he would establish a permanent office in Cookeville for the first time. Chattanoogan.com reports that the office will be located in the L. Clure Morton Federal Building at 9 E. Broad St., 3rd Floor. Other offices are located in Chattanooga, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville and the Tri-Cities.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, is filing a bill to remove the name of former Congressman Clifford Davis from the federal building in downtown Memphis, the Commercial Appeal reports. Cohen cites Davis' membership in the Ku Klux Klan and support for segregation laws as the reason for his effort. The Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building, located at 167 N. Main, was constructed in the 1960s and houses the federal courts, other federal agencies and Cohen’s local office. In 2007, legislation passed the Congress that added Horton's name to the building. Horton was a groundbreaking Black federal judge in Memphis who had died the previous year. Cohen said at the time he wanted to rename the building just for Horton but the political will was not there. The Davis family previously announced its support for removing the late congressman’s name from the building.

U.S. Rep. David Kustoff announced on Tuesday that he had come into close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Kustoff tested negative in a test administered on Monday and is now quarantining consistent with the recommendations of the attending physician of the U.S. Congress.

The fall out continues for those who were present at a rally last week or part of a group that breached the U.S. Capitol. Greene County Assistant District Attorney General David Baker removed posts from his Facebook page, dodged questions and — through local attorney Jonathan Cave — threatened to sue the Knoxville News Sentinel before acknowledging he was at the rally, the paper reports. Baker said through his attorney that he did not enter the Capitol and called the actions of those who did “shameful.” In California, Chapman University law professor John Eastman, who assisted in filing several lawsuits challenging presidential election results and spoke at the rally, has left the law school, Law.com reports. He reached an agreement to immediately retire amid criticism of his role in stoking the attack. Finally, two Tennesseans who were present at the Capitol have been arrested. Eric Gavelek Munchel, known as “zip-tie guy” was arrested in Nashville. He appears in photographs “running wild in the Senate chamber carrying zip-tie restraints with a holster on his hip,” Tennessee Lookout reports. Matthew Bledsoe of Memphis was arrested and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct, the Commercial Appeal reports.

In related news, inspectors general for four federal departments today launched a sweeping review of how the FBI, the Pentagon and other law enforcement agencies responded to the attack at the Capitol, including whether there were failures in information sharing and other preparations that left the building vulnerable. The AP has more on the probe.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is currently in quarantine after learning last night that he had come into contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, Chattanoogan.com reports. Fleischmann tweeted this morning that he is currently non-symptomatic, following CDC guidelines and remaining in contact with the capitol physician.

Chaos erupted in the nation's capital today as supporters of President Donald Trump swarmed the U.S. Capitol building, prompting both the House and Senate chambers to be evacuated and the building put on lockdown, the Tennessean reports. Doors were barricaded, windows broken and a woman was shot and killed. As of late afternoon, 13 people had been arrested. The incident began after protestors left a pro-Trump rally on the National Mall while Congress was considering certification of electoral votes from the states. Tennessee’s representatives in Congress condemned the actions, as did TBA President Michelle Greenway Sellers. In a statement, Sellers said, “The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) condemns today’s senseless violence at the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the Electoral College vote. The TBA is and remains dedicated to safeguarding the rule of law and the underlying principles outlined in the U.S. Constitution. Law and justice are essential components of our democracy, as is the peaceful transition of power from one elected president to the next.  We call upon all state and federal elected leaders to strongly denounce the violence and work together to restore faith in our democratic institutions.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, today blocked efforts to hear legislation passed by the U.S. House to increase the amount of stimulus checks, making them $2,000 instead of $600, NPR reports. President Donald Trump has tweeted in support of an increase and several Senate Democrats pressured McConnell to allow a vote on the legislation, which was passed by the House on Monday in a 275-134 vote. McConnell blocked those efforts and gave no indication as to when, or if, he might agree to consider it. However, McConnell did say that the Senate would address a few big issues that Trump has recently called attention to, which includes the stimulus checks.