The U.S. Senate yesterday passed an appropriations bill that includes $440 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) — an increase of $25 million over last year’s budget and the largest appropriation in the agency’s history. The U.S. House of Representatives passed identical legislation on Dec. 17 and President Trump is expected to sign the bill today. According to the LSC, the majority of the appropriation is for basic field grants to fund the direct delivery of legal assistance. More than 93% of the funding will be passed on to independent legal aid organizations that serve low-income residents in every state. In a statement today, ABA President Judy Perry Martinez applauded Congress for increasing the funding.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill Friday that would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that once required officials in all or parts of 15 mostly Southern states to receive federal approval before making changes to their voting processes, the New York Times reports. The bill essentially reverses a 2013 Supreme Court decision that tossed out a “pre-clearance” provision that determined which jurisdictions needed federal oversight of elections. The White House opposed the bill arguing it was an unjustified expansion of government power.

The U.S. House Oversight Committee has sued two top Trump administration officials for refusing to produce documents related to a decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, Fox 17 reports. The suit seeks to force Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to turn over internal documents about the effort. Both officials have said more than 31,000 pages have already been produced but the documents in question are subject to executive privilege. The administration abandoned the citizenship question last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court said justification for the question “seems to have been contrived.”

The activist at the center of the fight to remove the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust from the state Capitol filed papers Monday to challenge Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, in the 2020 democratic primary, the Nashville Post reports. In February during a protest over the Bedford Forrest bust, Jones, 24, was arrested and charged with assault after allegedly throwing a paper cup into an elevator occupied by then-House Speaker Glen Casada. Cooper has served in Congress for nearly three decades. 

Under a bipartisan bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month, specialized criminal courts for military veterans facing minor charges would get a dedicated office in the U.S. Department of Justice. The office would coordinate grants, training and other assistance to help state and local governments set up such courts. The legislation also authorizes $25 million in new funding for the effort. The Senate recently passed a similar bill. Veterans courts allow low-level offenders to avoid criminal penalties if they complete a rehabilitation program or get treatment for mental health issues or substance abuse, Law360 reports.

U.S. Rep. John Rose of Cookeville has filed legislation that would expedite challenges to so-called nationwide injunctions. In an op ed in the Gallatin News, the Republican congressman writes that these injunctions are “a harmful trend” that are “unfair” and have a “detrimental effect.” He notes that the administration has had close to 40 nationwide injunctions imposed on its policies since the president took office. The bill, H.R.4219, would allow for direct appeals of nationwide injunctions to the U.S. Supreme Court, skipping the federal circuit courts of appeal.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted yesterday to approve $189.1 million for the construction of a new federal courthouse in Chattanooga. The unanimously approved legislation will next be considered by the full Senate. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said a new courthouse is “desperately needed ... in the largest and busiest Judicial District in Tennessee.” The Judicial Conference of the United States has designated Chattanooga as a courthouse construction priority citing operation, space and security deficiencies, the Chattanoogan reports.

Tennessee Bar Association leaders are  in Washington, D.C., this week for a series of meetings with senators and members of congress. The trip is part of an annual lobbying effort coordinated by the American Bar Association. The TBA delegation will discuss issues of local interest with legislators and advocate for funding of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and preserving the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.