The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands (LAS) has launched its 2026 Equal Justice Campaign, an annual effort to expand access to civil legal services for low-income individuals and families across the region. This year’s campaign has a goal of $2 million. Wendy Longmire, co-managing partner at Ortale Kelley, will serve as the 2026 campaign chair. Other campaign committee members are Ann Ralls Brown, Stites & Harbison; Blair Durham, Bart Durham Law; Elizabeth M. Adams, HCA Healthcare; Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Lynne Tyler Ingram; Julie Bhattacharya Peak, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani; Kathy Pennington, H.G. Hill Realty Company; Pooja Bery, Bery Law; and Katherine Crosthwaite and Laura Niewold, community volunteers. The campaign's signature event, the Equal Justice Fall Gala, will be held Oct. 3 at 5 p.m. CDT. Read more about the campaign in this press release. Contact Christina Sanders at csanders@las.org with questions.

KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. For much of American history, evading excise taxes on liquor has been nearly a national pastime. At the time of the Revolution, one historian has written, “nearly every farmer distilled his own whiskey and deemed it his inalienable right to evade the tax, and resist the collector whenever a favorable opportunity presented itself for doing so.” Gallus Thomann, Liquor Laws of the United States 58 (1885). Soon after the Constitution’s ratification, in western Pennsylvania, this evasion came by force of arms—in the Whiskey Rebellion, which President Washington put down only after assembling “an army larger than any he had commanded during the Revolution.” Gordon S. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815, at 138 (2009). Just after the Civil War, in 1867, a select committee of the House of Representatives heard more than a month of testimony, and concluded: “in the manufacture and sale of tobacco, cigars, and spirits, and especially the latter, the most stupendous frauds are practiced against the government in the collection of its revenue.” H.R. Rep. No. 39-24, at 1 (1867).

The following year Congress enacted comprehensive legislation to end those frauds, which among many other provisions included a ban on distilling spirits in one’s home. Now, almost 160 years later, John Ream argues that the home-distilling ban has been beyond Congress’s enumerated powers all along. We disagree with the district court’s conclusion that Ream lacks standing to bring his claims; but we hold that the ban is a necessary and proper means of collecting the federal excise tax on distilled spirits.

JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. After exiting Miami Valley Hospital, Thomas K. Irwin publicly urinated. Following a brief pursuit, Officer Trent Davis tackled Irwin, leaving Irwin permanently incapacitated. Elaine R. Smith, Irwin’s mother and guardian, sued Davis and his employers (among others) for excessive force and state-law torts … We ... DENY the motion to dismiss, VACATE the district court’s order, and REMAND for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

The Defendant, Amir Hassan Spears, appeals from his convictions for first degree felony murder, criminally negligent homicide, especially aggravated robbery, and aggravated assault. On appeal, he presents three issues for our review: (1) whether the evidence was insufficient to support the Defendant’s convictions for failure to establish identity; (2) whether the State committed a Brady violation when it failed to disclose, prior to the close of the State’s proof, the circumstances surrounding a victim’s identification of the Defendant; and (3) whether trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by (i) failing to take appropriate action when this issue came to light at trial, and (ii) failing to adequately challenge testimony that the Defendant had concealed a long rifle inside his pants. After review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The Defendant, Jarvis Jones, appeals from the order of the trial court revoking his probation. He argues that trial court failed to properly adhere to the two-step consideration for probation revocation and, as a result, abused its discretion in revoking his probation. Upon review, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in revoking the Defendant’s probation and that the record, considered as a whole, supports full revocation as the appropriate consequence. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Retired Chancellor Richard E. Ladd Sr. died March 15 in Bristol at the age of 90. After graduating from the University of Tennessee (now Winston) College of Law, Ladd moved to Bristol and began practicing law in 1963. He spent the first 15 years of his career working as a trial lawyer. He then was appointed chancellor of the 2nd Judicial District in 1978. He served more than 30 years on the bench before retiring in 2010. Throughout his career, Ladd taught at the Tennessee Judicial Academy and served in various positions with the Tennessee Judicial Conference. He served as president of the conference from 1989-90. Watch an interview Ladd gave in 2010 for the Tennessee Bar Foundation Fellows' Legal History Project. The family intends to hold a private service but memorial donations may be made to the Dean Harold Warner Scholarship Fund at the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law or a charity of the donor’s choice.

The Defendant, Wayne Morris Flood, appeals from the Hickman County Circuit Court’s probation revocation for his eight-year sentence for possession with intent to sell or deliver 0.5 gram or more of methamphetamine. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by revoking his probation and ordering him to serve the remainder of his sentence in confinement. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand this case for the trial court to reinstate the Defendant to probation.

The Defendant, Robert Seth Denton, appeals from his convictions for three counts of first degree premeditated murder, as well as singular counts of aggravated assault, reckless aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment. On appeal, the Defendant asserts that three evidentiary issues entitle him to a new trial: (1) one of the murder victims, who made a dying declaration identifying the Defendant as the person who shot him, lacked the personal knowledge necessary to identify his killer; (2) the life-in-being photographs of the murder victims were not relevant to any disputed issue at trial and were unfairly prejudicial; and (3) the photographs of two of the minor victims taken at the hospital following the shooting were needlessly cumulative, unfairly prejudicial, and were not relevant to any disputed issue at trial. He further contends, based upon these evidentiary claims, that the cumulative error doctrine entitles him to relief. Finally, as to the aggravated assault conviction only, the Defendant asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict. After review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

This is an accelerated interlocutory appeal as of right filed pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 10B. Due to numerous deficiencies in Appellant’s petition, the appeal is dismissed.

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and the Herff Chair of Excellence will host the 2026 Herff Conference on May 15 at the law school. This year’s theme, "Countervailing Power — Antimonopoly for Workers," will focus on the rise of antitrust litigation in the labor market, including looking at the underlying laws and the proof elements for a violation. The keynote address will be given by former Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya. Lunch and a reception are included in the free program. Learn more online.