Death row inmate Tony Carruthers’ attorneys are criticizing the qualifications of the doctor who participated in his failed execution on May 21 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. The Tennessean reports that Mark Walton Fowler is a family medicine doctor in Union City. He has an active Tennessee medical license but does not have hospital privileges. Fowler previously said he had not performed a central line procedure since 2013. Carruthers reportedly was pierced more than 12 times in an attempt to access his veins. Prison officials called off the procedure and Gov. Bill Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve from execution. Fowler has participated in at least two other executions: Oscar Smith in May 2025 and Byron Black in August 2025. A lawsuit challenging the state’s execution protocols is scheduled to go to trial in February 2027.

Tennessee has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging an effort by Colorado local governments to wield Colorado state tort law to control energy policy nationwide. Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti announced that the case, Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, raises significant constitutional questions about the authority of a single state to regulate conduct occurring entirely in other states. In the brief, Tennessee argues that the Constitution protects each state’s territorial sovereignty and prohibits one state from imposing its policy preferences beyond its own borders. Tennessee warns that allowing Boulder’s lawsuit to proceed would permit individual states to effectively dictate national energy and environmental policy for the entire country. Read more in a news release.

A watchdog group has filed a complaint with the New York Bar against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for his role in the government’s case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Tennessee Lookout reports that the Campaign for Government Accountability accuses Blanche of violating ethics rules in bringing human smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia. A federal judge in Nashville last week determined that prosecution of the man — who previously was deported and then brought back to the United States after alleging wrongful removal — was vindictive. A Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson called the allegations “baseless” and said the department would be appealing the dismissal of criminal charges. The group also says it shared the complaint with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, questioning the role then-Acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire played in the prosecution.

A proposed class action lawsuit accuses Washington, D.C., based law firm Wiley Rein of failing to detect a cyberattack, which gave hackers access to sensitive consumer data that was stolen and sold on the dark web. According to Bloomberg Law, hackers gained access to the firm’s systems for eight months as early as July 2024, but Wiley Rein did not discover the breach until June 2025 and waited until March 2026 to notify victims. Florida resident Derrick Burkett is suing the firm for negligence, breach of third-party contract, unjust enrichment and invasion of privacy on behalf of himself and similarly situated individuals. Burkett says he has had at least 19 fraudulent charges on his MetLife estate account due to the breach.

The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar recently voted to allow law schools to count graduates who complete alternative pathways to licensure toward the minimum graduation rate needed for accreditation. The ABA Journal reports that the council’s Standards Committee recommended modernizing Standard 316. Council member Mary Lu Bilek said it was important to align the standard with what is happening across the country, where some states — including Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah — have or are considering alternatives to the bar exam. The move follows a 2025 report by the Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform, which found that innovative pathways such as supervised practice could help address access to justice and practice readiness.

A three-judge state court panel has dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit filed by the NAACP challenging Tennessee’s newly redrawn congressional districts, according to the Nashville Banner. The lawsuit argued the General Assembly exceeded the scope of Gov. Bill Lee’s special session proclamation when it approved the maps, which divide Memphis into three congressional districts. The three-judge panel ruled that sovereign immunity protected Lee and the General Assembly from the suit and found only one plaintiff, DeVante Hill, had legal standing to challenge the map. But the judges ultimately determined that Hill’s constitutional and statutory claims lacked merit, concluding the legislature’s actions fell within the scope of the governor’s proclamation. Separate legal challenges to the maps remain pending in federal court.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy is filing an emergency lawsuit to block two recently passed laws that would give the state of Tennessee oversight of his office, according to WSMV. The Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act would require the district attorney’s office to provide reports every 10 days on the dismissal or settlement of charges related to task force arrests while the Audit and Pro Tem Act as amended would allow Attorney General Skrmetti to review the office’s internal files and share them with members of the General Assembly. Both measures passed the legislature last month and were signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee. Mulroy argues the laws violate the state constitution by targeting Shelby County.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is investigating a May 20 shooting in which a member of the Memphis Safe Task Force shot a man who later died, the Commercial Appeal reports. Officers found Jonah Neal inside a residence with multiple weapons, according to a release. A Homeland Security Investigations special agent fired her weapon “for reasons still under investigation,” the TBI said. Neal was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said it is not yet clear whether he died from the gunshot wound or from self-inflicted stab wounds. The shooting comes a week after Drug Enforcement Administration agents with the task force shot and killed Darrin Pigram in North Hollywood. The TBI also is investigating that shooting.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has announced that his office filed an opening brief in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee that blocked Tennessee from enforcing sports wagering laws against KalshiEX LLC. Tennessee has argued that platforms such as Kalshi function as sports wagering and should be subject to the state’s Sports Gaming Act, which requires licensing, consumer protections and tax payments. Kalshi contends its products qualify as “swaps” under the federal Dodd-Frank Act and fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “Tennessee has laws governing wagering on sports — laws that Kalshi is desperately trying to avoid — that ensure sportsbooks provide protections for problem gamblers, pay taxes to support our education system, and provide a fair and transparent service to users,” Skrmetti said in a news release.

After denying a coalition of voters and congressional candidates a temporary restraining order against the new redistricting maps, federal Judge William L. Campbell also has declined to grant a temporary restraining order to a separate group of plaintiffs challenging the maps. According to the Nashville Banner newsletter,  Campbell wrote that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their first claim that the intent of the legislature was to discriminate against Black people in Memphis because “assessing a legislature’s intent is a "complex task" and “legislative action is entitled to a presumption of good faith.” He also was unwilling to conclude that the map constituted First Amendment retaliation against Black voters. The plaintiffs are still seeking a preliminary injunction against the map. As in the first case, Campbell expressed concern about “voter confusion in the face of ongoing litigation close to an election, regardless of the outcome of that litigation.” He concluded that voter confusion “counsels strongly against the issuance of an injunction.” Last week, all three cases against the maps currently pending in federal court were consolidated and assigned to Campbell.