Chip Saltsman, chief of staff for Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, will be stepping down from that role on Jan. 1, but will continue to serve as an advisor through the end of the month. Jim Hippe, Fleischmann’s current legislative director and counsel, will take over as chief. A native Nashvillian and lawyer, Hippe has worked with Fleischmann since 2011. Prior to that he was legislative director and deputy chief of staff to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and Vanderbilt University Law School. Chattanoogan.com has more

The Senate gave final approval on Tuesday to legislation that would create a single standard for the treatment of privileged information submitted to all federal agencies that supervise banks and other financial institutions. The legislation, supported by the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association, clarifies and provides consistent regulation for privileged information submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and across all federal banking agencies. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker is a cosponsor of the measure, which President Obama is expected to sign into law. 

(Includes information from the American Bar Association News Service)

The Senate gave final approval on Tuesday to H.R. 4014, legislation supported by the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association that would create a single standard for the treatment of privileged information submitted to all federal agencies that supervise banks and other financial institutions, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The D.C. based organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health against U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, alleging that he engaged in a sexual relationship with a female patient he was treating for a medical condition. The group filed the complaint after a news story suggested that DesJarlais pressured a patient with whom he was involved to seek an abortion. According to the Nashville City Paper, the congressman says he knew the woman was not pregnant and was using "strong language" in hopes she would admit the truth.

In related news, the Chattanooga Times Free Press is reporting that the Tennessee Conservative Union (TCU) is debating whether to ask DesJarlais to resign his seat. It also indicates that TCU Chairman Lloyd Daugherty is talking with other Republican-leaning groups to see if a coalition can be built to demand the doctor’s resignation from Congress.

The Senate confirmed two non-controversial judicial nominees for federal district courts early Saturday, part of the last scheduled business until after the presidential election. The Senate confirmed Gonzalo Curiel for the Southern District of California and Robert Shelby for the District of Utah, the Blog of Legal Tmes reports The posts are considered judicial emergencies because of the workload faced in the districts. Both men had the support of both of their state's senators and were approved by a voice vote.

Money for groups that help domestic abuse victims will be drastically cut if legislation to renew the 1994 Violence Against Women Act does not pass, WATE.com reports. Amy Dilworth, a representative from the Knoxville Family Justice Center, said the group would lose “several hundred of thousands of dollars” used to help local abuse victims unless Congress acts.

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker announced Wednesday that veteran Senate aide Rob Strayer will serve as his new legislative director and general counsel. A 2000 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, Strayer most recently worked at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where he served as director of the Homeland Security Project. He previously served as deputy staff director of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Strayer replaces Ryan Berger who will remain on staff as a policy advisor. The office also announced that John Lipsey has been promoted to chief counsel. The Chattanoogan reported the news

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform filed a civil complaint today against Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., just over a month after the House of Representatives voted to find Holder in contempt of Congress for not turning over documents about the botched Operation Fast and Furious gun-smuggling sting operation. The complaint, filed this morning in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, chastised Holder for his "contumacious refusal" to comply with a subpoena and sets the stage for a court battle over the scope of executive privilege. The Blog of Legal Times reports

Senate Republicans have blocked an up-or-down vote on President Obama’s nomination of Magistrate Judge Robert Bacharach to the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, despite bipartisan support for his approval. In response, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office indicated that no more confirmation votes on appeals court judges would be attempted before the presidential election. While Democrats criticized the move as “extreme,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described the freeze as following Senate tradition for “a bipartisan timeout” before the presidential election in November. Read more in Gavel Grab

A confirmation vote scheduled for Monday could be a pivotal moment for how many appellate court bench spots the Senate will fill during the rest of this year, the Blog of Legal Times reports. Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is forcing a vote Monday afternoon on Robert Bacharach of Oklahoma for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, a nominee considered to be highly qualified and noncontroversial. The move is a direct challenge to Republicans who have leaked plans that they will block all circuit court judges for the rest of the presidential election year.

If Reid succeeds in getting enough Republican votes to overcome the filibuster, it could pave the way for other noncontroversial circuit court nominees awaiting confirmation this year, including William Kayatta Jr., of Maine for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and Richard Taranto, nominated to the Federal Circuit. If Reid does not succeed, it would suggest Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has party members in line to solidify a freeze on any circuit court confirmations until next Congress, nomination watchers say.