Tennessee Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti today announced that a bipartisan coalition of states and other parties have reached a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with members of the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma for their instrumental role in creating the opioid crisis. Although the final amount Tennessee will receive depends on multiple factors, the state anticipates receiving more than $90 million. Funding will be used to support opioid addiction treatment, prevention and recovery programs. The settlement also ends the Sackler family's control of Purdue and their ability to sell opioids in the United States. Read more about the agreement in news release from the AG’s office.

The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has put a pause on all active civil rights litigation and indicated it may want to revisit settlements made during the final months of the Biden administration, the Associated Press reports. The Commercial Appeal looks at how that decision might affect the department’s case against the Memphis Police Department and sentencing in the Tyre Nichols federal case.

Since taking office on Monday, President Donald Trump has signed a range of executive orders on immigration, diversity and criminal justice. Immigration orders included declaring a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border; designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations; reinstating the "Remain in Mexico" policy for asylum seekers; sending troops to the southern border; and suspending refugee resettlements for four months. The Associated Press looks at these and other immigration actions. Trump also signed orders rescinding Biden edicts that put a government-wide DEI apparatus in place and directing the attorney general to review DEI initiatives in the private sector, state and local bar associations and certain institutions of higher education. Bloomberg Law has more on those actions. Two bar association presidents commented on the order to Reuters. Finally, a number of orders will impact the justice system, including reinstating and expanding the federal death penalty and lifting a ban on federal contracts with privately run detention facilities.

The Tennessee Bar Foundation has awarded more than $3 million in grants from the IOLTA program. Funds will be used by organizations and programs that provide vital legal services and improve the administration of justice in Tennessee. In a news release announcing the grants, the foundation notes that this year’s amount is the largest in the 37-year history of the program due to higher interest rates paid by financial institutions. The total given in grants over the years has now passed $30 million. Jacqueline B. Dixon, chair of the foundation’s board of trustees, said IOLTA provides resources that “help organizations meet their mission to provide legal representation to low income and vulnerable people and improve the administration of justice." See the full list of grant recipients.

An executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Monday to limit who benefits from the U.S. Constitution’s “birthright citizenship” provision was blocked today by a federal judge, Reuters reports. The order made it official government policy that children born to mothers not legally in the country or here temporarily, and whose fathers are not citizens or lawful permanent residents at the time of the birth, would not automatically become citizens of the country. The order quickly was challenged by state attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle called the effort "blatantly unconstitutional" and issued a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement. Other challenges also are pending. Suits from the Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights and a coalition of 18 attorneys general are pending in Massachusetts, while the ACLU has filed a challenge in New Hampshire. Bloomberg Law reports on those.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee last week appointed Melanie Sellers as the new public defender for the 1st Judicial District. The appointment will take effect March 1. Sellers currently serves as assistant district public defender in the district and will replace Jeffery Kelly, who is retiring. Sellers earned her bachelor’s degree at East Tennessee State University and law degree at University of Tennessee College of Law. The 1st Judicial District Court covers Carter, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington counties. Read the full announcement from the governor.

President Donald Trump has named former Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn as deputy U.S. secretary of education. The Tennessean reports that Schwinn, a former teacher and founding principal of a charter school, was an early appointment in Gov. Bill Lee's administration. She served in the role for five years. Lee praised the selection as “another strong choice to further [the [president’s] education agenda — delivering school choice and finally returning power back to the states,” though other conservatives in the state expressed concern about the choice.

On the last day of his presidency, Joe Biden granted blanket pardons to five family members; members of Congress who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; former National Institutes of Health leader Anthony Fauci; and retired Gen. Mark Milley, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A few days earlier, Biden commuted the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. The Associated Press reports on those actions. According to Reuters, Biden also granted clemency to Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who had been sentenced to life for killing two FBI agents. Since taking office Monday, President Donald Trump also has issued a slew of pardons, including pardons for all of those charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol — including some 30 who have connections to Tennessee — as well as Ross Ulbricht, who operated a dark web marketplace. Read more about those actions from The Tennessean and Reuters.

After a blackout that lasted about 14 hours, TikTok returned to the U.S. on Sunday. The video app was taken offline Saturday night in compliance with a law that effectively banned the service nationwide unless it separates from ByteDance, its China-based owner. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law. On Saturday, Google and Apple removed the app from their stores, a requirement of the ban, which also prohibits web-hosting companies from providing back-end support to the app, National Public Radio reports. On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump issued a statement vowing to pause the law and protect tech companies while the app's future is worked out. On Monday, the president signed an executive order giving U.S. leaders 75 days to find a buyer, according to the Associated Press. Despite that action, Apple and Google reportedly are not allowing new users to download the app or allowing current users to install updates or make in-app purchases.

Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire announced Tuesday that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee recovered more than $137 million for American taxpayers and crime victims in fiscal year 2024. According to the press release, the office collected a total of $135.7 million in civil cases, primarily through the False Claims Act, which allows the government to recover up to three times the amount of fraudulently obtained funds, and $59 million from civil penalties under the Controlled Substances Act. In criminal cases, the office obtained approximately $4.1 million in money judgments and recovered $939,718 through forfeited criminal and civil assets. “The dedicated public servants in our office responsible for protecting the public from fraud and disgorging criminal proceeds have once again done a fantastic job on behalf of taxpayers and crime victims in Middle Tennessee,” McGuire said.