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After the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional, a flurry of re-sentencings followed across the country. But for juvenile lifers in Tennessee, it was like nothing happened. What followed were several legal battles, culminating in a Tennessee Supreme Court decision that ultimately ruled the state's sentencing unconstitutional. The Republican-led state legislature responded by proposing a torrent of “tough on crime” bills aimed at juveniles. We head to Tennessee, where we explore a recent push to funnel more children into the adult prison system. Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa. Follow the show to get every episode. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peaks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts. www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus.
The "Sergeant Daniel Baker Act" is a Tennessee law enacted in 2019 to expedite the appeals process in death penalty cases. Named in honor of Dickson County Sheriff's Sergeant Daniel Baker, who was tragically killed in 2018, the law mandates that death penalty cases be automatically reviewed by the Tennessee Supreme Court, bypassing the Court of Criminal Appeals. This change aims to speed up the judicial process for capital punishment cases.The law was passed following the murder of Sergeant Baker, who was fatally shot while responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle. The incident led to the arrest and conviction of Steven Wiggins, who was sentenced to death for the crime. In addition to the expedited appeals process, the law reflects Tennessee's commitment to swift justice in cases involving the death penalty.https://linktr.ee/UnforbiddentruthBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unforbidden-truth--4724561/support.
TBA's Legislative Updates podcast is new with TBA attorneys and lobbyists, Berkley Schwarz, Pier Strategies LLC, and Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin, Adams and Reese. This week they discuss SB1052/HB1355, amends TCA §36-1-102(45)(B) to provide that a biological father who only pays token support to the child's mother shall not qualify as a putative father, SB540/HB492, custody determinations - failure to pay child support, SB541/HB906, TBA probate study group's legislation, SB394/HB569, selection of settlement agent in real property transaction, SB943/HB1255, continuing education for judges involved in child custody proceedings, and the plan for indigent representation by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts on behalf of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Watch Director Michelle Long present the AOC's budget request, including funding for a new Office of Indigent Conflicts and Civil Counsel, which would assume responsibility for managing the state's indigent representation system here, her testimony begins at 1:31:04 - https://tnga.granicus.com/player/clip/31461?view_id=841&redirect=true&utm_campaign=tba-today&utm_source=membercentralpublications&utm_medium=email&utm_content=wednesday-march-5-2025
TBA's Legislative Updates podcast is new with TBA attorneys and lobbyists, Berkley Schwarz, Pier Strategies LLC, and Ashley Harbin, Adams and Reese. This week they discuss SB1052/HB1355, amends TCA §36-1-102(45)(B) to provide that a biological father who only pays token support to the child's mother shall not qualify as a putative father, SB540/HB492, custody determinations - failure to pay child support, SB541/HB906, TBA probate study group's legislation, SB394/HB569, selection of settlement agent in real property transaction, SB943/HB1255, continuing education for judges involved in child custody proceedings, and the plan for indigent representation by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts on behalf of the Tennessee Supreme Court.
TBA's Legislative Updates podcast is new with TBA attorneys and lobbyists, Berkley Schwarz, Pier Strategies LLC, and Brad Lampley, Adams and Reese. This week they discuss SB541/HB906, claims of creditors filed against an estate, SB540/HB492, custody determinations - failure to pay child support, and the plan for indigent representation by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts on behalf of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Link to the Plan for Indigent Representation by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts on behalf of the Tennessee Supreme Court Key points for lawyers TBA Day on the hill registration link
Ep 137, Surface vs. Substance: Managing Workplace Disputes Wisely
In this episode of Tennessee Court Talk, Samantha Fisher leads Chief Justice Holly Kirby, Justice Sarah Campbell, Justice Dwight Tarwater and Justice Mary Wagner down memory lane. The discussion focuses on traditions the justices had during the Thanksgiving holiday as children and the traditions that have created with their own families they celebrate with today. This episode is for all audiences.
How does empathy and accountability intersect to shape a better future for older adults, families and senior living? Rebecca Adelman, is redefining leadership within healthcare and senior living through her “Work-Life Being” philosophy and focus on “Unique Abilities.” Rebecca's approach promotes a transformative cultural shift where empathy and empowerment become the cornerstones of care and professional excellence. As an attorney, entrepreneur, and thought leader with nearly 35 years of experience, Rebecca brings her insights and compassion to support families and professionals. Rebecca's impact stretches beyond the legal field. Founder of the all-women Adelman Firm and Claims Management, she has not only established a groundbreaking claims management model but has also launched initiatives like the Adelman-Mettle Care Alliance and Guide Path, focusing on culture change and expectations management in senior living. She's received numerous accolades, including being named one of the “Top 10 Empowering Women Leaders in 2023” by CIO Views and honored with awards such as the Pro Bono Service Award from the Tennessee Supreme Court. A national speaker, Rebecca regularly shares her wisdom on women in business, enterprise risk management, and senior living culture through webinars like The Senior Living Empower Hour and publications. In our conversation, Rebecca offers guidance on navigating care transitions with empathy and foresight. Whether discussing legal protections for families, addressing the emotional challenges of caregiving, or sharing resources for staying informed, Rebecca's insights empower us to approach these decisions with clarity and compassion. Thank you, Rebecca for your mentorship and compassion. Learn more at https://adelmanfirm.com/ We are not medical professionals and are not providing any medical advice. If you have any medical questions, we recommend that you talk with a medical professional of your choice. willGather has taken care in selecting its speakers but the opinions of our speakers are theirs alone. Thank you for your continued interest in our podcasts. Please follow for updates, rate & review! For more information about our guest, podcast & sponsorship opportunities, visit www.willgatherpodcast.com
On this episode, the newest member of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Mary Wagner sits down with host Nick Morgan to discuss her transition from the trial bench to the appellate bench. Justice Wagner also discusses growing up in a family of lawyers and her favorite music to listen to on the road. This episode is for all audiences. An audio only version Justice Wagner's investiture ceremony can be found as Episode 37 of Tennessee Court Talk.
A step back from our normal style of episode to bring our audience a complete audio version of Judge Mary Wagner's investiture to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Justice Wagner received a warm welcome to the appellate bench as family, friends, colleagues, elected officials, and the judiciary joined her in Germantown for a ceremonial investiture by Governor Bill Lee.For an interview with Justice Wagner and to get to know her on a more personal level, check out Ep. 36 of Tennessee Court Talk.
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Roger Page is a man of two careers. After 25 years of service to the Tennessee judiciary, he is hanging up his robe for a life of travel and home improvement. On this episode of Tennessee Court Talk, Justice Page sits down with host, Nick Morgan, to discuss growing up on a farm in Chester County, his love for the San Francisco Giants and how a boy who didn't want to be a farmer, grew up to serve as the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. This episode is for all audiences.
In Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Ins. Co., 912 F.3d 348 (2018), the Sixth Circuit declared unconstitutional Tennessee's law capping punitive damages based on the Tennessee constitution. But in the wake of Lindenberg, Tennessee state courts continue to reduce punitive damage awards in reliance on the statutory cap because the Tennessee Supreme Court has not […]
In Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Ins. Co., 912 F.3d 348 (2018), the Sixth Circuit declared unconstitutional Tennessee’s law capping punitive damages based on the Tennessee constitution. But in the wake of Lindenberg, Tennessee state courts continue to reduce punitive damage awards in reliance on the statutory cap because the Tennessee Supreme Court has not directly addressed the law’s constitutionality. And in a case on a different statutory damages cap, the Tennessee Supreme Court indicated it likely would have disagreed with the Sixth Circuit. McClay v. Airport Mgmt Svcs, 596 S.W.3d 686, 693 n.6 (Tenn. 2020)Federal court certification of state law questions to state high courts is a thorny issue with competing concerns. All states but North Carolina permit certification, but the federal courts control which questions presented in the case it certifies for resolution. State courts are free to decline to answer the questions certified and to do so after a period of months, as happened in Lindenberg. Some experts point out that even when the state court chooses to answer the questions certified, the process can be time consuming and inefficient.Our panel will explore the issues of federalism, efficiency, and prudence presented when considering the question certification process between federal and state courts.Featuring:Hon. Rachel Wainer Apter, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of New JerseyHon. Benjamin Beaton, United States District Court for the Western District of KentuckyHon. Sarah Keeton Campbell, Justice, Supreme Court of TennesseeModerator: Hon. Jennifer Perkins, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One---To register, click the link above.
Attorneys, investigators, and experts are not only entitled to a reasonable fee, but they are also entitled to be reimbursed for their reasonable and necessary expenses. Section 4 of Tennessee Supreme Court, Rule 13 gives guidelines for what is covered. In this episode of Appointed Counsel, host Joe Byrd explains this guidance in detail; covering filing fees, travel, and other necessary expenses, as well as what is not covered under Rule 13. This podcast is for attorneys, court reporters, investigators, and experts.
The honorable Holly Kirby is a Tennessean that inspires. After earning degrees in engineering and law, she went on to practice law in Memphis before being appointed to the bench in the Tennessee Court of Appeals, the first woman to sit on that Court. After spending nearly 19 years there, she was sworn into the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2014. Join Tom and co-host Judge Chris Sockwell as they learn about the life of Justice Holly Kirby.
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Arrington is a member of the American Arbitration Association's Rosters of Neutrals for arbitration and mediation of commercial, employment, complex, and class action disputes and for non binding arbitration. He has been named as a panel member of the Banking, Accounting and Financial Services, Employment and Tennessee Distinguished Panels of Neutrals with the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) and is on the roster of arbitrations of the American Health Lawyers (AHLA). He has been approved as a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution Arbitrator. He is listed with the Tennessee Supreme Court's Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution as a Rule 31 General Civil Mediator. He is also a member of the panels of court approved arbitrators and mediators for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Mr. Arrington is AV-rated in Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating awarded by this most widely-used directory of lawyers. He chairs the firm's Employment Law and Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice groups. He has attended advanced mediation training from the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He is also a member of the Tennessee Academy of Mediators and Arbitrators. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-arrington-85358010/ Wilson Worley: https://wwmgs.com/
Arrington is a member of the American Arbitration Association's Rosters of Neutrals for arbitration and mediation of commercial, employment, complex, and class action disputes and for non binding arbitration. He has been named as a panel member of the Banking, Accounting and Financial Services, Employment and Tennessee Distinguished Panels of Neutrals with the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) and is on the roster of arbitrations of the American Health Lawyers (AHLA). He has been approved as a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution Arbitrator. He is listed with the Tennessee Supreme Court's Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution as a Rule 31 General Civil Mediator. He is also a member of the panels of court approved arbitrators and mediators for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Mr. Arrington is AV-rated in Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating awarded by this most widely-used directory of lawyers. He chairs the firm's Employment Law and Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice groups. He has attended advanced mediation training from the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He is also a member of the Tennessee Academy of Mediators and Arbitrators. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-arrington-85358010/ Wilson Worley: https://wwmgs.com/
This week, we're replaying a classic episode where Steve and Yvonne interview T Scott Jones of Banks and Jones (https://www.banksjones.com/). Remember to rate and review GTP in iTunes: Click Here to Rate and Review View/Download Trial Documents Case Details: Acclaimed Tennessee trial lawyer T. Scott Jones shares how he secured justice for his client, a 16-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by a prominent Greeneville, Tennessee businessman and funeral homeowner who avoided meaningful criminal charges through a pre-trial diversion program and two years of probation. In his late 50s at the time of the statutory rape, the businessman posed as an 18-year-old on a website and targeted minors. The plaintiff suffered severe physical injuries, requiring hospitalization and continued medical treatment. A Greene County, Tennessee jury held the defendant accountable when it returned a verdict of $525,000, including $300,000 in compensatory damages and $225,000 in punitive damages. Guest Bio: T. Scott Jones Scott Jones is a fierce trial lawyer and a zealous advocate for his clients. Well-regarded in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, T. Scott has received numerous accolades and awards. Multiple times, his peers in the legal field have voted him one of Knoxville's Top Attorneys in polls conducted by CityView magazine. He has the highest possible AV rating with Martindale-Hubbell and is regarded as one of the preeminent attorneys in the southeastern United States. T. Scott's successful litigation for his clients has qualified him for the prestigious Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. He has been named one of Tennessee's 10 Best Attorneys by the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys and the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, and the American Society of Legal Advocates named him one of Tennessee's Top 100 Litigation Lawyers. He has also been nationally recognized as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America by the National Trial Lawyers. America's Top 100 Attorneys has awarded him a Lifetime Achievement award, and T. Scott is a Lifetime Charter Member of the Distinguished Justice Advocates. He has been named one of America's Top 100 High Stakes Litigators in the state of Tennessee, and the National Association of Distinguished Counsel placed T. Scott into the Nation's Top One Percent. He is currently serving as Vice President of the TN American Board of Trial Advocates (TN ABOTA) Chapter and regularly participates in trial practice-related teaching opportunities. Scott knows the importance of interacting with colleagues to stay abreast of developments and changes in the legal world. T. Scott frequently teaches CLE courses on trial strategy, teaching other lawyers his methods for success in the courtroom, and is certified as a Rule 31 Mediator in the Tennessee Supreme Court. He is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the National Trial Lawyers, and the Tennessee and American Associations for Justice. In addition, T. Scott is licensed to practice in all three United States District Courts for the state of Tennessee, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Scott constantly gives back to his community by selectively handling numerous pro bono cases each year, and he works extensively with the Kerbela Shriners of Knoxville and Shriners Hospitals for Children. He is on the Advisory Board of the University of Tennessee College of Law Institute for Professional Leadership, has received the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award from Lions Club International, and is also an active member of the Royal Order of Jesters, Order of Quetzalcoatl, Rotary Club of Downtown Knoxville, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks as well as having served as the Master of Cherokee Lodge #728 F&AM. Read Full Bio Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton LLP - hlmlawfirm.com Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2
The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 12, 2023Tennessee Supreme Court Stays Order for New State Senate Maps, Likely Keeping Gerrymandered Maps for 2024 and Protecting GOP SupermajorityJust a week after a lower court upheld state House maps and ordered new state Senate voting district maps, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled – for the second time – that it would temporarily keep both partisan gerrymandered maps in place.Our podcasting host recently made changes which stops us from including our entire script as part of the podcast content. To view the whole script, please go to our website and find today's report.Today's LinksArticles & Resources:Democracy Docket - Tennessee Legislative Redistricting State ChallengeAmerican Redistricting Project - Wygant v. LeeDemocracy Docket - Court Orders New Tennessee State Senate Map, Upholds State House MapTennessee Lookout - Senate and House redistricting rulings challenged at Supreme Court levelABC News - Tennessee Supreme Court blocks decision to redraw state's Senate redistricting mapsThe Tennessean - Tennessee sued over 'racial gerrymandering' in redistricting mapsDemocracy Docket - Tennessee Congressional and State Senate Redistricting ChallengeGroups Taking Action:League of Women Voters TN, Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, Equity Alliance, African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee, Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE! Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.orgWant ADM sent to your email? Sign up here!#Democracy #DemocracyNews #EndGerrymandering #FairMaps #PartisanGerrymandering #RacialGerrymandering
Many state constitutional provisions are worded similarly to provisions of the federal Constitution. At times, this has led some to simply assume as binding or highly persuasive the interpretations of the latter on the former. But to what degree should interpretations of the United States Constitution inform a particular state's interpretation of its own foundational document? We hosted a lively discussion of this important issue by a distinguished panel:Judge David R. Stras, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth CircuitChief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth CircuitAssociate Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren, Georgia Supreme CourtJustice Clint Bolick, Arizona Supreme CourtModerator: Justice Sarah K. Campbell, Tennessee Supreme Court
In this episode we take you to the investiture ceremony of Justice Dwight E. Tarwater to the Tennessee Supreme Court at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville on September 5, 2023.
Conscious Caregiving with L & L is "Tackling the Tough Conversations" hosted by Lori La Bey & Lance A. Slatton. This month the topic is "End of Life Care" and features an All-Star panel. Dr. Anne Kenny: Anne Kenny, MD is a geriatrician and palliative care physician, author of Making Tough Decisions about End-of-Life Care in Dementia and Founder of Together in Dementia - an educational/informational blog/coaching/course platform with a mission to provide physician-informed approach to care from someone who has also traveled the dementia journey. David McNally: David McNally is a professional speaker and author of several bestselling books including Mark Of An Eagle and Be Your Own Brand. He has been married twice, both spouses of whom have passed away. His second wife, Cheryl, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in June of 2019, and passed away in June this year. Cheryl made a decision after her original diagnosis that she would not go into memory care and when her quality of life diminished to where life no longer had meaning, she would VSED (Voluntarily Stop Eating and Drinking). Dr. Joseph Byrd: Joseph Byrd is a minister, theologian, and attorney. He has served as the Lead Pastor in congregations in North Dakota, Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, and Michigan as well as serving as a seminary professor teaching practical theology and pastoral ministry. He has practiced law serving as County Attorney in Tennessee; a City Attorney in Florida; Assistant Attorney General in the Tennessee Attorney General's Office; and most recently Disciplinary Counsel and Lead Attorney for Indigent Services with the Tennessee Supreme Court. Pastor Ben Murray: Ben Murray is the Lead Pastor at Northville Christian Assembly in Northville, MI. He has been in full-time ministry for 19 years and has filled many positions from a Children's Pastor, an Associate Pastor, and now a Lead Pastor. Kim Callinan CEO of Compassion & Choices: Kim Callinan is the President and CEO of Compassion & Choices, where she has had a leadership role in realizing patient directed end of life care for the past eight years. She launched the Finish Strong initiative, designed to empower patients to take charge of the final chapter of their lives; played a leadership role in the authorization and implementation of medical aid in dying into six new jurisdictions; and launched an initiative to address the inequities in end of life care and planning for historically underserved communities. Patty Mouton VP of Alzheimer's Orange County: Patty Barnett Mouton, MSGc, has served as Vice President at Alzheimer's Orange County since 2005. She is passionate about enhancing quality of life for older adults, and people with life-limiting illness. Among her roles in the community, Patty serves as Program Director for the Hoag Hospital Palliative Care education program, is appointed to the Senior Citizens Advisory Council to the OC Board of Supervisors, as well as the Provider Advisory Committee to CalOptima. Brian Fulcher: Brian Fulcher is the Family Service Manager at Sunset Kapala Glodek Funeral Home and Cemetery as well as Wulff Funeral Home. He leads a team of committed, compassionate Family Service Counselors who find fulfillment and professional satisfaction in helping individuals and families prepare for and plan their legacy. Carrie Rowell: As a mortician and funeral celebrant, she has a deep compassion and understanding when helping families through the life changing experience of the death of a loved one. As a teaching specialist with the University of Minnesota Program of Mortuary Science, and teaches the future funeral directors the importance of anticipatory grief that both families and the person with dementia experience. Visit Conscious Caregiving with L & L's Official Website: https://www.https://consciouscaregivingll.com
Today's show briefs a use-of-force decision out of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Although the decision is from 2017, it covers a number of interesting use-of-force decisions.In a Stand-Your-Ground state, does being engaged in unlawful activity at the time of the event cost you ONLY your Stand-Your-Ground privilee, or does it lose you the entirety of self-defense?Who decides if you were engaged in unlawful activity at the time--the trial judge, on the one hand, or the jury, on the other?Does the necessity defense apply when death is on the line?The decision also covers a number of useful legal doctrines it's always useful to keep fresh in mind, such as the difference between appellate review de novo versus appellate review to abuse of discretion, and more!This is a PRE-RECORDED show, given the July 4 weekend here in the US!BECOME A LAW OF SELF DEFENSE MEMBER FOR JUST 99¢!Not yet a Law of Self Defense Member? WHY NOT? Try our two-week trial membership, unlimited access to our show content, for just 99¢! Stay a member after that and it's still just ~30¢ a day, less than $10 a month! Get the 99¢ trial membership here: https://lawofselfdefense.com/trialBECOME A PLATINUM MEMBER FOR ONLY 82 CENTS A DAY!PLUS get EVERY class & book we offer, for FREE!We ONLY consult on legal cases for our Platinum members!BE HARD TO CONVICT, become a Law of Self Defense Platinum member TODAY!http://lawofselfdefense.com/82centsAMERICAN LAW COURSESGet a law-school level education in typical first-year (1L) law classes, including criminal law, constitutional law, evidence, property, and more, at a fraction of the cost and time of law school, and without any of the political toxicity of today's law schools. Spring semester starts soon with Constitutional Law!Learn more at: americanlawcourses.comTHIS WEEK ONLY, WATCH THE ENTIRETY OF THE FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL LAW CLASS FOR FREE!americanlawcourses.com/conlawLAW CARDS! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lawcards/law-cardsSUBSCRIBE TO our NEW YouTube channel for short content:"Law of Self Defense Briefs"https://lawofselfdefense.com/briefsSUBSCRIBE TO our STANDARD long-form YouTube channel:"Law of Self Defense"https://youtube.com/lawofselfdefenseFREE LEGAL CONSULTATION!We ONLY consult on legal cases for our Platinum members!BE HARD TO CONVICT, become a Law of Self Defense Platinum member TODAY!http://lawofselfdefense.com/platinumFREE BOOK! “The Law of Self Defense: Principles”Physical book, 200+ pages, we just ask that you cover the S&H:http://lawofselfdefense.com/freebookFREE 5-ELEMENTS OF SELF-DEFENSE LAW CHEAT SHEET!Totally free cheat sheet explaining the 5-elements of any claim of self-defense.If you don't understand these five elements you have no idea what legally qualifies as lawful self-defense.PDF download, zero cost:http://lawofselfdefense.com/elementsDisclaimer - video is for educational purpose only.Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
The honorable Holly Kirby is a Tennessean that inspires. After earning degrees in engineering and law, she went on to practice law in Memphis before being appointed to the bench in the Tennessee Court of Appeals, the first woman to sit on that Court. After spending nearly 19 years there, she was sworn into the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2014. Join Tom and co-host Judge Chris Sockwell as they learn about the life of Justice Holly Kirby.
We have a fun “this day in legal history” for today – it's the anniversary of the start of the Scopes Monkey Trial. The Scopes "monkey trial" took place in 1925 and involved the prosecution of high school teacher John T. Scopes for teaching evolution, which was prohibited by Tennessee's Butler Act. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but the Tennessee Supreme Court later overturned the conviction due to a technicality. The trial was initiated when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) offered to support any teacher willing to challenge the Butler Act's constitutionality.George W. Rappleyea, the manager of a local company in Dayton, Tennessee, saw the ACLU's advertisement and saw it as an opportunity to put Dayton back on the map. Rappleyea gathered a group of prominent residents, including school superintendent William White, who recruited Scopes as the defendant. Ironically, the textbook used in Tennessee schools, George W. Hunter's "A Civic Biology," endorsed evolution, thus requiring biology teachers to violate the Butler Act.The trial gained national attention, and renowned attorneys William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow joined the prosecution and defense, respectively. Bryan opposed evolution due to its association with eugenics and social Darwinism, while Darrow was a respected lawyer known for his involvement in high-profile cases. The trial had a festive atmosphere, with banners, large crowds, and the first live radio broadcast of a trial.The trial ended with Scopes being found guilty by the jury in a remarkably short time of nine minutes. However, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the conviction because the judge had imposed a fine of $100, exceeding the jury's authority. While upholding the constitutionality of the Butler Act, the court stated that the case should not be prolonged.In later years, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down similar laws, including an Arkansas law, in the case Epperson v. Arkansas (1968), citing a violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause.Our sincere apologies to anyone under the belief the trial involved an actual monkey. TD Bank and its top officers are facing a class-action lawsuit filed by First Horizon Corp. stockholders. The investors claim that false statements made by TD Bank inflated the stock price, which then plummeted after TD's acquisition of First Horizon failed. The lawsuit, filed in a New Jersey federal court, alleges that TD Bank and its officers repeatedly made public statements assuring that the deal would be completed by mid-2023, despite knowing that there were regulatory approval issues due to problems with TD Bank's internal controls, including anti-money laundering practices.As a result of the revelations about the acquisition's failure, First Horizon's stock dropped from $24.64 per share to $10.06 on May 4 when the deal was abandoned. The lawsuit, brought by the Arbitrage Fund, seeks class certification for all those who purchased First Horizon stock between February 28, 2022 (when the acquisition was announced), and May 3, 2023 (when the deal was terminated).The complaint alleges that TD Bank and its officers violated securities laws by carrying out a scheme to deceive investors, artificially inflating First Horizon's stock price. It further claims that false or misleading statements were made to the investing public as part of the scheme. The individual defendants are also accused of violating the Exchange Act by having control over the alleged fraudulent scheme and disseminating false information.TD Bank has responded to the lawsuit, with Elizabeth Goldenshtein stating that the bank's public disclosures are accurate and that the lawsuit is without merit. The case is titled Arbitrage Fund v. Toronto-Dominion Bank.TD Bank Sued by First Horizon Investors After Acquisition FailsStewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, is facing sentencing later today for charges of seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. Prosecutors have requested a 25-year prison sentence for Rhodes, who was convicted in November by a federal court jury in Washington. The sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. Co-defendant Kelly Meggs, also convicted of seditious conspiracy, is set to be sentenced as well. Prosecutors argue that Rhodes led a conspiracy of over 20 U.S. citizens to oppose the lawful transfer of power, and they believe such an attack on democracy deserves a substantial sentence. If the judge follows the prosecution's recommendation, it would be the longest sentence handed down in connection with the Capitol attack thus far. Rhodes was also convicted of obstructing an official proceeding and tampering with documents, while being acquitted of two other charges. Prosecutors are requesting a prison term longer than U.S. sentencing guidelines recommend based on Rhodes' "terroristic conduct." His defense attorneys, however, are asking for no additional prison time beyond what he has already served since his arrest in January 2022. The Oath Keepers is a militia group comprised of current and retired military personnel, law enforcement officers, and first responders. Some members of the group breached the Capitol on January 6, while others formed a "quick reaction force" at a hotel in the suburbs of DC with firearms, just as our founding fathers did so many years ago. Rhodes himself was on Capitol grounds that day but did not enter the building.Oath Keepers founder faces sentencing for sedition in US Capitol attack | ReutersA federal appeals court, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, has ruled that workers suing employers under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for failing to accommodate their disabilities must demonstrate that they were fired, disciplined, or faced another adverse action that negatively affected their employment. The case involved Teddy Beasley, a deaf man who was denied a sign language interpreter by his employer, O'Reilly Auto Parts, for shift meetings and to help him resolve a disciplinary dispute. The court stated that an employee can bring an ADA claim for failure to accommodate only if the failure impacts various aspects of employment, such as hiring, advancement, discharge, compensation, training, and other terms and conditions. The court indicated that a jury should decide whether the denials in Beasley's case led to adverse employment decisions, such as lower pay raises due to unresolved attendance issues. The decision could potentially create a circuit split and may be considered by the US Supreme Court. Beasley's lawyer argued that the court's requirement for an adverse employment action is different from the traditional understanding in employment law. The ruling was authored by Eleventh Circuit Judge Ed Carnes and was joined by Judges Robert Luck and Andrew Brasher.Adverse Act Needed for ADA Accommodation Claim: 11th Cir. (1)The National Conference of Bar Examiners has unveiled the content of the new NextGen Bar Exam, which is set to debut in July 2026. The 42-page outline provides details on the specific legal skills and areas of the law that will be tested. Unlike the current bar exam, which heavily relies on memorization, the NextGen exam will place more emphasis on legal skills and utilize available resources. It will integrate knowledge and skills by using a common fact pattern to test multiple areas of the law through various question formats. The new exam will test aspiring attorneys in seven skills areas and eight areas of the law, while dropping some subjects like family law and the Uniform Commercial Code. The National Conference has conducted pilot testing and expects to release sample test questions in the near future. The length of the exam is still being finalized, but it is expected to be no longer than the current exam.A new bar exam is coming. Here's what it will test. | Reuters Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://herstontennesseefamilylaw.com/2021/03/01/tennessee-supreme-court-on-missing-witness-rule-and-unclean-hands-in-termination-of-parental-rights-case-in-re-mattie-l/
Until recently, anyone found guilty of first-degree murder in Tennessee could be sentenced to a minimum 51-years in prison - even if they were under 18 at the time of the crime. Al Jazeera's "Fault Lines" series released a documentary about Almeer Nance — a Knoxville man who received what is essentially a life sentence for felony murder in 1997. He was 16 when the crime happened and didn't pull the trigger. Documentarian Jeremy Young joins us to talk about his work and Nance's case. Then we hear from Nance's family, a man who was incarcerated in Tennessee and sentencing reform advocates to learn where this sentence came from and how it disproportionately affects Black prisoners. Since this episode first aired in June, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the mandatory life sentence for minors is unconstitutional. Nance has since filed for clemency. Guests: Jeremy Young, documentarian Jameerial Johnson, daughter of Almeer Nance Rahim Buford, former insider and sentencing reform advocate Rev. Jeannie Alexander, co-founder and co-director of No Exceptions Prison Collective Dawn Deaner, director of Choosing Justice Initiative, former public defender for Davidson County
Trover cases in the United States. Trover is the name of the action which lay, at common law, for the recovery of damages for the conversion of personal property in his possession, usually involving chattels held in bailment. Although the old forms of action have been abolished or disappeared under modern civil procedure in the United States, the common law action for conversion still exists in fact, if not in form. (Extensive case law is reviewed.) A person who purchases personal property from one not authorized to sell the chattel may be held liable for the conversion of the article. This is regardless of the fact that the purchaser was honestly mistaken, or acted innocently, in good faith and without knowledge of the seller's lack of authority to make the sale. This rule also holds in cases where the purchaser takes possession of the goods, mixes them with his own property, holds them to his own use, refuses to surrender possession on demand, disposes of the goods to a third person by sale, lease or bailment or in general exercises rights of ownership as to the property purchased in denial of the real owner's rights after knowledge of the rights of the true owner. Deaderick Oulds, 1887. In the 1887 case of Deaderick Oulds, the Supreme Court of Tennessee ruled on a case of trover. The defendant, Oulds, cut 800 walnut logs, branded them with the letter "D", then proceeded to float them down a river with the intention of recovering them downstream. Sometime later, Oulds found an unmarked log among his other marked logs which had peculiar cracks at one end. He floated the unmarked log down the river, and it washed up on an island owned by the plaintiff, Deaderick, who then claimed the log as his in trover or replevin. The Tennessee court quoted the English case of Bridges Hawkesworth where the plaintiff, being in the shop of the defendant, picked up a parcel containing bank notes. The defendant, at the request of the finder, took charge of the notes, to hold for the owner. After three years, no one had come forth to claim them. The defendant shop owner refused to deliver them to the plaintiff. The court held the defendant shop owner liable in trover for the notes. The Tennessee Supreme Court observed it is essential in cases of trover, that the property must be found; it must at the time when the finder came upon it, to have been in such a situation as to clearly indicate that it was lost. It cannot have been placed there by the original owner who lost it by carelessness or forgetfulness, where it was later found by someone else. In such cases, the owner of the premises where the property is found is treated as a quasi-bailee (for example he holds the property for the original owner), and he may maintain trover against the finder. Since the log was not intentionally laid by the (unknown) owner on the land of the plaintiff (Deaderick), and hence he was not a quasi-bailee for the owner, he cannot hold against the superior right of the defendant (Oulds) arising out of his prior possession and earlier finding of the log. Judgment for ownership of the log was to the defendant Oulds. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/support
Do you know we have our own outlaw, like Jesse James? How about one of our pioneers in the Stonewall Riots? No? What about the owner of the first Black daily newspaper in the country? Or the first African American attorney to appear before the Tennessee Supreme Court? No? Listen in to hear more!We learn about Henry Berry Lowry, an American outlaw who was never captured, Storme DeLaverie who arguably threw the first punch against police to start the 1969 Stonewall Riots that birthed the gay/lesbian rights movement that has expanded to include other sexualities. Alexander Lightfoot Manly who owned and operated the (Wilmington) Daily Record, in 1895, making it the first black owned newspaper nationwide, and William F. Yardley who was Tennessee's first gubernatorial candidate in 1876 among other firsts.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Berry_Lowryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm%C3%A9_DeLarveriehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Manlyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._YardleyDo you think there should be a Multiracial History course taught at high schools and colleges? What chapters should it include?What it means to be multiracial in America, one story at a time, from the studio to the streets.DOWNLOAD and SUBSCRIBE to Generation Mixed.FOLLOW us on:Instagram| @generationmixedpodcastTwitter | @genmixedpodcastTik Tok | @genmixedpodcastSubscribe to our newsletter at www.Justjmarc.comPlease email us here with any suggestions, comments, and questions for future episodes.generationmixedpodcast@gmail.com
The makeup of Tennessee Supreme Court is set to change this year. Justice Sharon Lee will retire from the state's highest court after 14 years on the bench. In 2008, Gov. Phil Bredesen appointed Lee to the court, and her departure means that all of the five justices will have been appointed by a Republican governor. In this episode, we take a look at the process for selecting a new justice. We also talk with legal experts about the history of the court, its influence and what makes Tennessee's judiciary unique. Guests: Erik Schelzig, editor of The Tennessee Journal William Koch, dean of Nashville Law School and retired Tennessee State Supreme Court justice Andy Bennett, Court of Appeals judge David Raybin, attorney and partner at Raybin & Weissman, P.C. Resources and additional reading: The Tennessee Journal: 5 apply for Tennessee Supreme Court vacancy The Tennessean: Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee to retire WPLN: The Tennessee Supreme Court rules against mandatory life sentences for minors Justia: Tennessee Supreme Court decisions by year Tennessee Judiciary Museum
In this episode, we take a deep dive into Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 13 and court-appointed work. Our guests Lacy Wilber, Assistant General Counsel, and Amy Park, Support Analyst, for the Administrative Office of the Courts, discuss the ins and outs of filing fee claims. Lacy reviews specific rules surrounding expenses and experts, and Amy details the process of filing for reimbursement. This episode is intended for attorneys.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://donnyferguson.com/2022/05/19/tennessee-supreme-court-hands-win-to-kids-with-pro-school-choice-ruling/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/donny-ferguson/message
In a series of new audio stories, Futuro Media senior producer Julieta Martinelli will explore Tennessee's juvenile lifer law, how it has been applied, how it could possibly change due to a pending Tennessee Supreme Court ruling, and how tough-on-crime legislation threatens to dismantle any progress. Julieta will meet some of those 185 juveniles sentenced to life, currently incarcerated in Tennessee prisons. Over the next few months, she will explore the laws, the potential remedies and those at the heart of them. And she'll learn how race, economic status, and even politics affect the possibility that they will ever have a chance at redemption, like hundreds of others already have across the country. This reporting was conducted with the support of a grant from Columbia University's Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights.
The honorable Holly Kirby is a Tennessean that inspires. After earning degrees in engineering and law, she went on to practice law in Memphis before being appointed to the bench in the Tennessee Court of Appeals, the first woman to sit on that Court. After spending nearly 19 years there, she was sworn into the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2014. Join Tom and co-host Judge Chris Sockwell as they learn about the life of Justice Holly Kirby.
TBA Legislative Updates podcast is now streaming with TBA Public Policy & Government Affairs Director Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. This week, lawmakers and the Tennessee Supreme Court bid farewell to outgoing Administrative Office of the Courts Director Deborah Taylor Tate, Gov. Bill Lee made three new judicial appointments and an Brad gives an update on the professional privilege tax.
Dave Worland is Executive Director for The Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and introduces us to Savannah Quintero, who serves with the Tennessee Supreme Court's "Access to Justice Initiative" as their Pro Bono Coordinator. There are opportunities for you to receive the assistance you need. This initiative provides churches with a tangible way to get involved in their community. Simply email their office if you would like more information: ATJinfo@tncourts.gov See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this week's episode, Brad and Berkley review the governor's State of the State address and give an update on the professional privilege tax. Ashley Harbin also joins the show again to detail the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in which Tennessee Supreme Court nominee Sarah Campbell was interviewed by state lawmakers.
PLUS: why the CD sales increase was just a mirage, and the end of the smart speaker era. My guest this week is engineer Lij Shaw, who's the owner of the Toy Box Studio in Nashville and host of the great podcast Recording Studio Rockstars. Lij has also been battling with the Nashville Metro Council since 2015 on behalf of home studio and home business owners in the city to keep their businesses open. The city of Nashville, which ironically has the moniker of “Music City,” had a zoning ordinance on its books claiming that a home studio or business is in violation if a customer comes to the house. In July 2020 Nashville finally made home studios and other home businesses legal, but the win also included a sunset clause that would cause the bill to expire three years later unless they vote to keep the law active in January 2023. In 2017, Lij and other Nashville home business owners filed a lawsuit in an effort to provide the right to work from home, which has now made it all the way to the Tennessee Supreme Court. During the interview we spoke about his legal battle with the city of Nashville, installing his new studio, auditioning the Phantom Focus system, selling his iconic console, and much more. I spoke with Lij from his studio via zoom in Nashville. On the intro I'll take a look at why the CD sales increase was just a mirage, and the end of the smart speaker era. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82692478, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };
Trover cases in the United States. Trover is the name of the action which lay, at common law, for the recovery of damages for the conversion of personal property in his possession, usually involving chattels held in bailment. Although the old forms of action have been abolished or disappeared under modern civil procedure in the United States, the common law action for conversion still exists in fact, if not in form. (Extensive case law is reviewed.) A person who purchases personal property from one not authorized to sell the chattel may be held liable for the conversion of the article. This is regardless of the fact that the purchaser was honestly mistaken, or acted innocently, in good faith and without knowledge of the seller's lack of authority to make the sale. This rule also holds in cases where the purchaser takes possession of the goods, mixes them with his own property, holds them to his own use, refuses to surrender possession on demand, disposes of the goods to a third person by sale, lease or bailment or in general exercises rights of ownership as to the property purchased in denial of the real owner's rights after knowledge of the rights of the true owner. Deaderick v Oulds, 1887. In the 1887 case of Deaderick v Oulds, the Supreme Court of Tennessee ruled on a case of trover. The defendant, Oulds, cut 800 walnut logs, branded them with the letter "D", then proceeded to float them down a river with the intention of recovering them downstream. Sometime later, Oulds found an unmarked log among his other marked logs which had peculiar cracks at one end. He floated the unmarked log down the river, and it washed up on an island owned by the plaintiff, Deaderick, who then claimed the log as his in trover or replevin. The Tennessee court quoted the English case of Bridges v Hawkesworth where the plaintiff, being in the shop of the defendant, picked up a parcel containing bank notes. The defendant, at the request of the finder, took charge of the notes, to hold for the owner. After three years, no one had come forth to claim them. The defendant shop owner refused to deliver them to the plaintiff. The court held the defendant shop owner liable in trover for the notes. The Tennessee Supreme Court observed it is essential in cases of trover, that the property must be found; it must at the time when the finder came upon it, to have been in such a situation as to clearly indicate that it was lost. It cannot have been placed there by the original owner who lost it by carelessness or forgetfulness, where it was later found by someone else. In such cases, the owner of the premises where the property is found is treated as a quasi-bailee (i.e. he holds the property for the original owner), and he may maintain trover against the finder. Since the log was not intentionally laid by the (unknown) owner on the land of the plaintiff (Deaderick), and hence he was not a quasi-bailee for the owner, he cannot hold against the superior right of the defendant (Oulds) arising out of his prior possession and earlier finding of the log. Judgment for ownership of the log was to the defendant Oulds. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/law-school/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/law-school/support
Part two of our discussion with Edward Larson, Ph.D., J.D., author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (Ed Larson). Remember to rate and review GTP in iTunes: Click Here To Rate and Review New! Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKdeO4IodggpSLyhWVdcWKw Episode Details: Edward Larson, Ph.D., J.D., author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion and the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and University Professor of History at Pepperdine University, explains the historical significance and societal impact of the landmark "Scopes Monkey Trial." In March 1925, the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Bill, which prohibited the teaching of evolution or anything but Divine Creation in schools. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought a test case and found one in Dayton, Tennessee science teacher John Scopes. During the eight-day trial, John Scopes pleaded not guilty to charges of violating the Butler Bill. He was represented by the ACLU and legendary trial attorney Clarence Darrow, who argued that the Butler Bill was unconstitutional and impeded basic freedom of religion rights. The special counsel for the prosecution was iconic American orator William Jennings Bryan, a political titan, former Secretary of State, celebrated speech maker and acclaimed U.S. Congressman who served as a major force behind the creation of the Butler Bill. The legal battle between Darrow and Bryan was truly an epic showdown, pitting two of the nation's best orators against one another in a court of law. On July 21, 1925, the jury returned a guilty verdict after nine minutes of deliberation, and Judge John Raulston ruled that John Scopes was ordered to pay a $100 fine for violating the Butler Bill. The verdict was overturned on a technicality at the Tennessee Supreme Court on January 15, 1927. In today's episode, learn why the Scopes trial is considered one of the most important cases in 20th century America and how it became the first trial to be broadcast live on the radio. Hear Edward Larson's analysis about the case, the precedents it set for Constitutional law in America and why the topic of evolution vs. creationism in schools is still being debated nearly 100 years later. Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents Guest Bio: Edward Larson Ed Larson holds the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and is University Professor of History at Pepperdine University. Originally from Ohio with a PhD in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and law degree from Harvard, Larson has lectured on all seven continents and taught at Stanford Law School, University of Melbourne, Leiden University, and the University of Georgia, where he chaired the History Department. Prior to becoming a professor, Larson practiced law in Seattle and served as counsel for the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC. He received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Ohio State University but still roots for the University of Wisconsin in football. Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History and numerous other awards for writing and teaching, Larson is the author or co-author of fourteen books and over one hundred published articles. His 2015 book, The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789, was a New York Times Bestseller and resulted in Larson being invited to deliver the 2016 Supreme Court Historical Society lecture in Washington, give the annual Gaines Lecture at Mount Vernon, and serve as a featured presenter for the Library of Congress's Madison Council event. His other books, which have been translated into over twenty languages, include An Empire of Ice: Scott Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science; A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign; and the Pulitzer Prize winning Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. Larson's articles have appeared in such varied publications as Nature, Atlantic Monthly, Science, Scientific American, Time, Wall Street Journal, American History, The Guardian, and dozens of law reviews. His latest book, On Earth and Science, was published by Yale University Press in 2017. A popular lecturer, Larson has taught short courses at universities in China, Europe, and South America; and given addresses at over 80 American universities. He was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study Center; held the Fulbright Program's John Adams Chair in American Studies; participated in the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Writers and Artists Program; and served as an inaugural Fellow at the Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon. A panelist on the National Institutes of Health's Study Section for Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues of the Human Genome Project, Larson is interviewed frequently for broadcast, print, cable, and internet media, including The Daily Show, The Today Show, and multiple appearances on PSB, BBC, the History Channel, C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News, MNBC, and NPR. Read Full Bio Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton LLP - hlmlawfirm.com Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Edward Larson, Ph.D., J.D., author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (Ed Larson). Remember to rate and review GTP in iTunes: Click Here To Rate and Review New! Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKdeO4IodggpSLyhWVdcWKw Episode Details: Edward Larson, Ph.D., J.D., author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion and the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and University Professor of History at Pepperdine University, explains the historical significance and societal impact of the landmark "Scopes Monkey Trial." In March 1925, the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Bill, which prohibited the teaching of evolution or anything but Divine Creation in schools. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought a test case and found one in Dayton, Tennessee science teacher John Scopes. During the eight-day trial, John Scopes pleaded not guilty to charges of violating the Butler Bill. He was represented by the ACLU and legendary trial attorney Clarence Darrow, who argued that the Butler Bill was unconstitutional and impeded basic freedom of religion rights. The special counsel for the prosecution was iconic American orator William Jennings Bryan, a political titan, former Secretary of State, celebrated speechmaker, and acclaimed U.S. Congressman who served as a major force behind the creation of the Butler Bill. The legal battle between Darrow and Bryan was truly an epic showdown, pitting two of the nation's best orators against one another in a court of law. On July 21, 1925, the jury returned a guilty verdict after nine minutes of deliberation, and Judge John Raulston ruled that John Scopes was ordered to pay a $100 fine for violating the Butler Bill. The verdict was overturned on a technicality at the Tennessee Supreme Court on January 15, 1927. In today's episode, learn why the Scopes trial is considered one of the most important cases in 20th century America and how it became the first trial to be broadcast live on the radio. Hear Edward Larson's analysis about the case, the precedents it set for Constitutional law in America, and why the topic of evolution vs. creationism in schools is still being debated nearly 100 years later. Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents ABOUT EDWARD LARSON'S BOOK: https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/edward-j-larson https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Gods-Americas-Continuing-Religion/dp/046507510X Guest Bio: Edward Larson Ed Larson holds the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and is University Professor of History at Pepperdine University. Originally from Ohio with a Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and law degree from Harvard, Larson has lectured on all seven continents and taught at Stanford Law School, University of Melbourne, Leiden University, and the University of Georgia, where he chaired the History Department. Prior to becoming a professor, Larson practiced law in Seattle and served as counsel for the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC. He received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Ohio State University but still roots for the University of Wisconsin in football. Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History and numerous other awards for writing and teaching, Larson is the author or co-author of fourteen books and over one hundred published articles. His 2015 book, The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789, was a New York Times Bestseller and resulted in Larson being invited to deliver the 2016 Supreme Court Historical Society lecture in Washington, give the annual Gaines Lecture at Mount Vernon, and serve as a featured presenter for the Library of Congress's Madison Council event. His other books, which have been translated into over twenty languages, include An Empire of Ice: Scott Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science; A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign; and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. Larson's articles have appeared in such varied publications as Nature, Atlantic Monthly, Science, Scientific American, Time, Wall Street Journal, American History, The Guardian, and dozens of law reviews. His latest book, On Earth and Science, was published by Yale University Press in 2017. A popular lecturer, Larson has taught short courses at universities in China, Europe, and South America; and given addresses at over 80 American universities. He was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study Center; held the Fulbright Program's John Adams Chair in American Studies; participated in the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Writers and Artists Program; and served as an inaugural Fellow at the Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon. A panelist on the National Institutes of Health's Study Section for Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues of the Human Genome Project, Larson is interviewed frequently for broadcast, print, cable, and internet media, including The Daily Show, The Today Show, and multiple appearances on PSB, BBC, the History Channel, C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News, MNBC, and NPR. Read Full Bio Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton LLP - hlmlawfirm.com Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2
This podcast has two parts. The first part is a discussion of the Scopes Trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee. Tennessee had passed a law restricting the teaching of evolution and a science teacher named John Scopes decided to challenge it. The second part is a talk I delivered at a conference on Religion and Science. Interesting Factoid: Those who argue against evolution say that there is no way natural evolution could have produced the human eye, for example. There must have been an "intelligent design" behind what happened, i.e., God. This curious phrase comes from a story in the McGuffey Readers. George Washington, then a young boy, is walking through the garden with his father. His father points to a pattern in the plants that spell out "George Washington." His father asks how he thinks there can be such a thing. Young George says he thinks there must have been some 'intelligent design' behind it. There the story ends. I would put my money on George's father, but that is not the conclusion of those who believe in divine creation. There are references to the Leopold and Loeb Trial, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, John Scopes, the Fundamentals of the Faith, H. L. Mencken, Nietzsche, Malthus, and the Bible. There is also a discussion of public opinion on relevant topics. Books: Clarence Darrow. For the Defense by Irving Stone Summer for the Gods. the Scopes Trial by Edward Larson. Film and play: Inherit the Wind. Update: Just reading the Larson book. The Tennessee Supreme Court voted 3-2 to uphold the law. One of the three justices said it did not prohibit "theistic evolution," i. e., the idea that God created evolution. Also, Tennessee law specified that the jury should set the fine. The jury had recommended that the judge set the fine at the minimum, i. e., $100.00. The court ruled that this was out of order. They vacated the conviction. In the end, Scopes was NOT convicted. Moreover, there was no appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. Scopes was offered scholarships to Harvard and elsewhere. He went to the University of Kentucky to study engineering and became a petroleum engineer.
ALL THE WAY FROM TAIWAN!!! Black Women Living Abroad Series #blackwomenlivingabroad Vegan enthusiast Juanita Ingram is an American licensed attorney, filmmaker, author, and actress currently living in Taipei, Taiwan, and formerly residing in London She is a wife, mother of two, and is the Founder and CEO of Purpose Productions Inc., a 501(c)3 women-led production company. Originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, she received her Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Tennessee State University and her MBA and Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Memphis. She is also the founder of Dress for Success Greater London and Dress for Success Chattanooga. Juanita grew up performing in local theater productions and has several IMBD credits as an actress, and Indie film director, writer, and producer in the US, UK, and Hungary. In 2019 she launched PURPOSE Productions as President & Founder producing two award-winning short films, BXAUTIFUL NIGHTMARX and TABLXS and received numerous film festival awards. She is the creator, star, and EP of the hit Telly Award-winning smart-reality docu-series The Expats International Ingrams which debuted with 2.3 million streams it's the first month (Dec 2020) on Amazon and is currently under distribution negotiations. Juanita created a multi-cultural Christian children's series – The Wonderfully Made Pals Presents which is a series of books with a mission of introducing the word of God to kids. The series currently includes Kind Kinsley, Wonderfully Made Wanita, Confident Keynan, and Generous Gregerio and her two newest additions– Heng and the Holy Spirit & Carisa's Curls! She also published three Christian inspirational books for women, Winning with Christ – Finding the Victory in Every Experience, Beauty for Ashes – Transforming Testimonies for Every Woman, and Fabulous, Faithful, & Free. In 2019 Juanita released Fabulous, Faithful & Free: The Workbook. It is an 8 week comprehensive guide to a journey of self discovery and reflection. Juanita recently finished an international multi-city book tour with Barnes and Noble. Her latest book is Peace over Panic – a 14-day devotional workbook offering tips to women and moms during the COVD-19 crisis with proceeds benefiting charity. As a Tennessee and Indiana licensed attorney with over 18 years of experience, Juanita has been recognized by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2018 and 2019 as an Attorney For Justice Award. She was also recognized in the Dai'namic Women series in 2017; awarded the Power of Women in Law Award in 2016, received the Up and Coming Leadership in Law Award in 2007; and was named Top 40 under 40 in 2004. As an advocate for young girls and women, Juanita travels internationally speaking on various topics regarding female empowerment and self-worth; delivering motivational messages to women and children throughout the US, Europe & the UK. She has competed and won numerous regional and international pageant titles in the past (including Mrs. UK World 2011, Mrs. UK Universe 2013, and Ms. World International 2012) and was recognized by the Madame Noire publication as one of the Top 7 Black Women in Pageantry to turn Beauty into Business along with Halle Berry, Oprah Winfrey, and Vanessa Williams. www.iamjuanitaingram.com Peeling Back the Layers of Your Life® Podcast Creator, Host, and Producer: Loronda C. Giddens www.lorondacgiddens.com
In this episode AAP Board Member Michelle “Shelley” Fiscus, MD, FAAP, talks about being fired from her position as medical director of the Tennessee Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization Program. She tells hosts David Hill, MD, FAAP, and Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, FAAP, how a memo citing a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling led to her dismissal. For resources go to aap.org/podcast.
On March 25, 2021, the Federalist Society's Memphis Lawyers Chapter hosted Justice Holly M. Kirby of the Tennessee Supreme Court via webinar to discuss the Tennessee Constitution.Featuring: Justice Holly M. Kirby, Tennessee Supreme CourtModerator: J. Gregory Grisham, Of Counsel, Fisher & Phillips, LLP; The Federalist Society Memphis Lawyers Chapter* * * * * As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://herstontennesseefamilylaw.com/2021/01/04/tennessee-supreme-court-resolves-split-over-ambiguous-ground-for-termination-of-parental-rights-in-re-neveah-m/
Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump flies to Ohio for a rally, right as the state’s governor tests positive for coronavirus. Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Tish James files a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association on grounds of rampant corruption and financial crimes. And lastly, a wild story out of LA: Sheriff’s deputies organized in “secret societies” that functioned like street gangs cost the county $55 million in settlements for their corrupt and brutal behavior. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Donald Trump flew into Ohio today just in time to not meet with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, because DeWine had just tested positive for COVID-19. DeWine, to his credit, has been far more aggressive against the coronavirus than many of his fellow Republican governors. After testing positive, he headed home to self-isolate and did not meet Trump at the airport. Trump then gave a planned speech on reopening the economy in Cleveland, but used most of his time to rail against Joe Biden, saying the former vice president was in favor of quote: “No Religion, no anything -- hurt the bible, hurt god. He’s against god, hes against guns, he’s against energy, our kind of energy, I don’t think he’s going to do too well in Ohio.” endquote. Trump said Biden wants all those things because he’s following quote “the radical left agenda,” endquote. Buddy, we wish Biden was following the radical left agenda! Unfortunately, he very much is not. This is pretty much the attack line that the Biden campaign must be expecting, and if that’s the best Trump can bring, it’s clear he’s just grasping at straws and trying to play the hits. Guns and God? Sure, that stuff is catnip for conservatives, but at a certain point people have gotta realize they’ve heard it all before. NY Sues NRA New York Attorney General Leticia James filed a lawsuit aiming to dissolve the National Rifle Association, a huge target that has been under fire for months with allegations of financial impropriety and open corruption. What can I say, if you’ve got the shot, take it. Gun puns aside, the lawsuit is a huge step that represents a culmination of years of diligent reporting by Propublica and nonprofit newsroom The Trace, which broke story after story detailing the NRA’s internal chaos and corruption. James’s suit, according to the New York Times, accuses the N.R.A. and executives like Wayne LaPierre and John Fazer of “violating numerous state and federal laws” by kicking back some $64 million of organizational funding to enrich themselves and their friends and family over the past 3 years. The NRA is a nonprofit chartered in New York City, so this is basically James’s wheelhouse. Karl Racine, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., filed suit against the N.R.A. and it’s charity wing, which is based in DC instead of New York. It’s not going to be a quick fight, however: the legal battle is expected to take years, so the NRA will surely play a role in the 2020 election, as they have every other year. But it is a strong opening volley against one of the most noxious political forces in America. LA Sheriffs Also in Gangs Our last story today isn’t so much breaking news as it is a shocking reminder of how dirty police forces in American routinely get. According to the LA Times, a group of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies cost the county and their department $55 million in court settlements over a decades-long period, as they formed organized, aggressive secret societies that glorified brutal policing and operated like street gangs. IN the last 10 years alone, the county has paid out at least 21 million to these groups’ victims. They gave themselves names too: different groups were called things like “the Vikings,” “Regulators,” “3000 Boys” and “the Banditos.” They operated out of jails and sheriff’s department stations for years, acting with impunity throughout the tenures of multiple top LA County Sheriffs. The Times reports some of the gangs even had tattoos and “earned their ink” by breaking inmates bones. Take the biggest case the department was forced to settle: Francisco Carrillo Jr. was jailed for over 20 years before his murder conviction was overturned in 2011. He was arrested when he was 16 by members of the Department’s white supremacist Lynwood Vikings gang, who he later alleged in a lawsuit had manipulated witnesses to pick him out of a lineup. John Sweeney, an attorney who has represented families of people killed by deputies said quote: “I think it’s a willful failure. For some reason, they pride themselves, the Sheriff’s Department, on having these violent cliques I guess to show the public who’s the boss. But, you know, what it does is just fosters a horrible relationship between the community that these sheriffs serve.” AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Mark Zuckerberg is facing some serious pushback from his employees, who asked him at a public forum on Thursday whether he would stop Donald Trump using the service to contest the 2020 election, according to Buzzfeed News. Facebook took down a Trump campaign post yesterday for misinformation, but has a track record of wimping out on bigger issues. The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that fear of COVID-19 is not a good enough reason to vote absentee, striking a nasty blow against vote-by-mail in that state. If a deadly pandemic isn’t good enough, what is? Congress has abandoned us, as Politico reports that Senators went home at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday and the House is out of session next week. They could get called back, but if they’re heading to home states it means a coronavirus relief bill is still a long way off. The State Department’s special envoy to Iran, Brian Hook is quitting, and being replaced by basically the worst possible person for the job: Eliott Abrams, one of the most bloodthirsty warhawks to ever grace the halls of power in Washington. Catch the Majority Report LIVE early today at 10:30AM ET! August 7, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn
Today we are discussing how the legal system is adjusting to the challenges of Covid-19, the steps that different courts are taking to keep us all a little safer, what you can expect in the next few months as we navigate the brave new cyberworld of law, and a case about a man who chose not to adjust to the reality of life’s challenges and got salty about it instead. The impact of Tennessee Supreme Court's Orders on how local courts are proceeding in light of Covid-19. Telephone 341 meetings and Social Security hearings. A debtor gets creative with his bankruptcy case.
In this episode, we discuss self represented litigation in Tennessee and across the United States by exploring the meaning and definition of a pro se litigant as well as provide advice on how pro se litigants can use state resources to gain more access to the court system and seek free legal advice. Guests include Justice Connie Clark of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Buck Lewis is the founder of Free Legal Answers, Professor Cat Moon is the Director of Innovation Design at Vanderbilt University Law School and Judge Fern Fisher who is now a professor at Hofstra University School of Law.
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview T Scott Jones of Banks and Jones (https://www.banksjones.com/). Remember to rate and review GTP in iTunes: Click Here To Rate and Review Case Details: Acclaimed Tennessee trial lawyer T. Scott Jones shares how he secured justice for his client, a 16-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by a prominent Greeneville, Tennessee businessman and funeral homeowner who avoided meaningful criminal charges through a pre-trial diversion program and two years of probation. In his late 50s at the time of the statutory rape, the businessman posed as an 18-year-old on a website and targeted minors. The plaintiff suffered severe physical injuries, requiring hospitalization and continued medical treatment. A Greene County, Tennessee jury held the defendant accountable when it returned a verdict of $525,000, including $300,000 in compensatory damages and $225,000 in punitive damages. Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents Guest Bios: T. Scott Jones Scott Jones is a fierce trial lawyer and a zealous advocate for his clients. Well-regarded in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, T. Scott has received numerous accolades and awards. Multiple times, his peers in the legal field have voted him one of Knoxville's Top Attorneys in polls conducted by CityView magazine. He has the highest possible AV rating with Martindale-Hubbell and is regarded as one of the preeminent attorneys in the southeastern United States. T. Scott's successful litigation for his clients has qualified him for the prestigious Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. He has been named as one of Tennessee's 10 Best Attorneys by both the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys and the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, and the American Society of Legal Advocates named him one of Tennessee's Top 100 Litigation Lawyers. He has also been nationally recognized as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America by the National Trial Lawyers. America's Top 100 Attorneys has awarded him a Lifetime Achievement award and T. Scott is a Lifetime Charter Member of the Distinguished Justice Advocates. He has been named one of America's Top 100 High Stakes Litigators in the state of Tennessee, and the National Association of Distinguished Counsel placed T. Scott into the Nation's Top One Percent. He is currently serving as Vice President of the TN American Board of Trial Advocates (TN ABOTA) Chapter and regularly participates in trial practice relating teaching opportunities. Scott knows the importance of interacting with colleagues to stay abreast of developments and changes in the legal world. T. Scott frequently teaches CLE courses on trial strategy, teaching other lawyers his methods for success in the courtroom, and is certified as a Rule 31 Mediator in the Tennessee Supreme Court. He is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the National Trial Lawyers, and both the Tennessee and American Associations for Justice. In addition, T. Scott is licensed to practice in all three United States District Courts for the state of Tennessee, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Scott constantly gives back to his community by selectively handling numerous pro bono cases each year, and he works extensively with the Kerbela Shriners of Knoxville and Shriners Hospitals for Children. He is on the Advisory Board of the University of Tennessee College of Law Institute for Professional Leadership, has received the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award from Lions Club International, and is also an active member of the Royal Order of Jesters, Order of Quetzalcoatl, Rotary Club of Downtown Knoxville, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks as well as having served as the Master of Cherokee Lodge #728 F&AM. Read Full Bio Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LTSatlanta.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Case Pacer - CasePacer.com Harris, Lowry, and Manton - hlmlawfirm.com Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2
Episodes 9 and 10 feature two panel discussions we recently attended at Lipscomb University with the three former and the three current female justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court. The conversation was enlightening and lively and it stands for itself. The recording featured in this episode is from the evening panel featured during the 2020 Fred D. Gray Dinner and features the justices mentors, being the one and only woman, what the justices do in their downtime and more. Thank you to Lipscomb University and Professor Randy Spivey for allowing us to record it.
Episodes 9 and 10 feature two panel discussions we recently attended at Lipscomb University with the three former and the three current female justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court. The conversation was enlightening and lively and it stands for itself. The recording featured in this episode is from the afternoon panel for students and features the justices journeys to a career in law, changes they have witnessed and advice to students. Thank you to Lipscomb University and Professor Randy Spivey for allowing us to record it.
Appellate Attorney John Vail recently argued a case in the Tennessee Supreme Court presenting a very important issue: Does Tennessee’s $750,000 cap on "noneconomic" personal injury damages violate the Tennessee Constitution? This case could have a significant impact on so-called "tort reform," in Tennessee and beyond.
There was a boy named Sam who didn’t speak. His parents began to get very concerned as he passed all the developmental milestones and still wasn’t talking. They took to the pediatrician, to the speech therapist, to the neurologist—all the docs said the same thing: we can’t find any medical reason why he isn’t speaking. One night while the family was eating dinner, Sam looked up and said, “my soup is too salty.” His parents freaked out, and started yelling and crying with relief, and saying “we can’t believe it, Sam! You can talk! It’s a miracle. How did this happen?” Sam just calmly said, “Well up to now, everything has been fine.” Salt is used for so many things in our world. It is the most ubiquitous food seasoning on earth. From sea salt to kosher salt to pink Himalayan salt to Japanese moshio made from dried seaweed, every culture has its own unique forms of salt that people use to flavor cuisine. Salt is vital in the preservation process and was used to keep food safe to eat without refrigeration. Bacteria can’t survive without water so people figured out a long time ago that if they covered meats and other foods in salt, the salt would remove all the moisture, flavor the food, and keep the food from growing harmful bacteria. Salt has been used by many cultures for ritual purposes, often symbolizing purity or cleansing. Salt doesn’t just serve flavoring, preserving, and symbolic functions, however: it is actually essential to the functioning of the human body. It is necessary for nerve and muscle function, it helps regulate fluids, it plays a role in the body’s control of blood volume, and it provides electrolytes that regulate blood pH and pressure. We simply can’t live without it. The people of ancient Palestine couldn’t live without salt either. But in addition to the uses I’ve already mentioned, salt had another very important use for people in the ancient world. The Greek word translated as “earth” in the phrase “salt of the earth” from our passage gives us a clue. The word is “ges,” the root for English words such as geology. It means earth but most often in the sense of arable land, the ground we are standing on, the soil. Jesus is more accurately saying “you are salt for the land” or “salt for the soil.”[1] Salt was frequently used in ancient farming techniques as a fertilizer to be applied directly on arable land, and to keep manure from rotting until it could be transported to a field. The version of this teaching in the Gospel of Luke makes Jesus’s intended meaning clear. Luke 14:34-35 says “salt is good, but if it loses its savor, how can saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap.” Jesus is employing an agricultural metaphor, not a metaphor about seasoning food. This has been blowing my mind all week and for me, adds a lot to the conversation about what Jesus expects from his followers. We are not simply to add flavor to the world around us, or to preserve it, but to scatter ourselves into the world’s arid places and make abundant life possible. We should be integrated into the soil around us, providing essential nutrients and stimulating growth. We should be a transformative presence in our community. If a fertilizer sits in the shed until the nutrients in it break down and it expires, it does nothing for the soil and has to be thrown out. Fertilizer is meant to be used for the life of the land around it. You are fertilizer for the ground also fits more neatly with Jesus’s other metaphor in this passage—you are the light of the world. In the same way, fertilizer does no good if it sits idle and isn’t scattered, light does no good if it is hidden under a basket. Fertilizer must give life to arid ground, and light must illuminate darkness. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said “A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased the follow him.”[2] The metaphors of salt, light, and the city on a hill were not just general images Jesus pulled out of thin air to describe how his followers should live. These metaphors were Jesus’s response to a very real conundrum facing the people of Israel in his day: how do we remain faithful to God under the boot of the Roman empire? For some in Jesus’s day, the best way to be faithful under oppressive Roman rule was a kind of “circle the wagons” approach—keep to ourselves, try to follow the law and the prophets as best we can, and interact with the gentile oppressors as little as possible. Pharisees often fell into this camp. The people in this camp placed a high value on maintaining a distinct identity from Rome, on being holy, and they thought the best way to accomplish this was to focus their energy internally, bolstering the Jewish community’s knowledge of their faith and exploring how to fulfill the law in daily life. I call this option revolutionary withdrawal. It remains an appealing option for religious people of many faiths, especially those who live under a government that is hostile to their religious practices. You can see this tendency throughout the history of the Christian church from some forms of the monastic movement to the radical reformers such as the Amish to a recent dustup over a book by conservative evangelical author Rod Dreyer called the “Benedict Option,” in which he argues that the only way for conservative evangelicals to escape the increasing decadence and immorality of American society is to “embrace exile from mainstream culture.” The second prominent option for remaining faithful during Jesus’s day was to take up arms and attempt to drive out the Romans so that a kingdom faithful to God might be established in Israel. I call this option revolutionary violence. Two memories animated the draw to revolutionary violence: the memory of God defeating Pharaoh and liberating the Hebrew people celebrated at Passover, and the memory of the Maccabean Revolt, which happened just 150 years before Jesus was born, where Judah Maccabee led a briefly successful guerilla war against the Greek/Seleucid empire, expelling them from Jerusalem and re-dedicating the temple to the worship of the one true God. In Jesus’s day, people such as the Zealots preferred this option, hoping to lead an armed rebellion against the Romans, kick them out of Israel, and freely live and worship as they chose. Several of Jesus’s disciples were likely affiliated with Zealot groups before becoming his followers and found this option appealing.[3] It was into this climate, and in answer to this specific question, that Jesus is offering the metaphors of salt and light. Jesus is rejecting the path of revolutionary withdrawal and the path of revolutionary violence, and offering an alternative path to faithfulness in the midst of Roman oppression: revolutionary discipleship. “God’s people are salt for barren ground,” he says. Salt is meant to be scattered across the land, catalyzing growth and life wherever it embeds itself. But salt that doesn’t do what it is meant to do, that doesn’t perform this life-giving and transformative role for the earth, is useless. “God’s people are light for a dark world,” he says. Why would you go to the trouble of lighting a lamp in the darkness and then hide it, confining its impact by covering it up? You wouldn’t! Light must shine to be what it was meant to be! And it only takes a little to illuminate the deepest dark. A city built on a hill is meant to be seen not hidden! Revolutionary withdrawal hides the light of God under a bushel basket and leaves the fertilizer in the shed. Revolutionary violence destroys the image of God in the one you are called to love, and puts your own light out. But revolutionary discipleship allows the light to be seen, the salt to be used for the good of the earth, and opens up the possibility that even one’s enemies might glorify God in heaven. As a saying I came across this week says, “There can be no such thing as secret discipleship, for either the secrecy destroys the discipleship, or the discipleship destroys the secrecy.” Following Jesus in revolutionary discipleship cannot help but be visible. It cannot help but generate reaction from the world around it. Sometimes those reactions are positive—some will see our good works and give glory to God. Some will be drawn to the city on a hill, they will want the meaning and purpose that comes with fertilizing an arid earth. But sometimes the reactions revolutionary discipleship brings are negative. Jesus was killed after all and promised us that if we truly wanted to follow him, we will have to be prepared to share in his suffering. It takes courage to be salt and light in a barren and dark world. When I think of courageous people who embraced their calling to be salt and light come what may, the first person that comes to my mind is Ida B. Wells. Our youth learned about Ida B. Wells last year in the lead-up to the Freedom Ride, but I’d venture a guess that very few of us learned about her until recently (if at all). She is one of the unjustly forgotten Black women whose uncommon boldness and prophetic fire should be at the forefront of our national memory, and certainly at the forefront of the U.S. church’s memory. Wells was born a slave in Mississippi a few months before the Emancipation Proclamation.[4] She learned her courage from her mother and father, who fled their former slaveowner after they were liberated and made a life for themselves, including boldly participating in political meetings among freed slaves, even as White backlash to Black enfranchisement was heating up. Tragically, both her parents and her baby brother died of yellow fever when Wells was only 16. She took responsibility for raising her other 6 siblings and took a job as a schoolteacher among freedpeople in rural Mississippi before she had even finished school herself. Once her brothers were old enough to care for themselves, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee with her sisters in tow and got a job as a journalist. It was in journalism that Wells found her calling. She began reporting on and protesting the establishment of Jim Crow laws around the South. In 1883, after Tennessee had adopted segregated train cars, Wells refused to move from the ladies car to the smoking car, which was where Black passengers were told to go if a train did not yet have a segregated car for them. The conductor returned with more White men to forcibly remove her, but she chose to get off the train rather than move to the smoking car. She sued the train company and won an initial suit, before the Tennessee Supreme Court eventually ruled against her, chastising her unladylike “persistence.” In 1892, she launched the crusade that would occupy the rest of her life. A White mob lynched the three owners of a Black grocery store in town, including one of Wells’s closest friends. Instead of retreating in self-preservation, or lashing out in soul-destroying violence, Wells devoted her life to investigating, documenting, and exposing the brutality of lynching. She travelled around the South, by herself, interviewing witnesses and documenting thousands of lynchings that were intended to terrorize Black Americans into not exercising the freedoms to which they were entitled. Wells is the reason we know as much as we do about how widespread lynching was as a practice. She was tireless and fearless in her devotion to what was right, deconstructing the harmful myths and lies that were used to justify these murders. She once said, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” Wells’s courageous devotion to what was right and good inspired many other freedom-fighters, including Frederick Douglass, who remarked about Wells, “brave woman! You have done your people a service which can neither be weighed nor measured.” She chose revolutionary discipleship, and because she did, her witness was compounded immeasurably. She was light and salt in the midst of a dark and barren world. Our world is not so different from Jesus’s or Ida B. Wells’s. The particulars are different, but cruelty and oppression still run rampant. Those who wish to be faithful to God in the midst of darkness and barrenness still face a choice. We can try to insulate ourselves from danger, from hostility, from loss. We can choose to try and ride out the storm from inside the safety of these walls rather than engage boldly with the world around us. We can try to eliminate all the threats against us. Or we can pursue a revolutionary discipleship that rejects the violence of our world and refuses to shrink back in fear or self-preservation. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, an author and activist, wrote a moving letter to those engaged in the fight for goodness, and truth, and justice in our world today. She said: “Mis estimados queridos, My esteemed ones: do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. Abject disregard of what the soul finds most precious and irreplaceable has become, in large societal arenas, the new normal. Ours is a time of almost daily jaw-dropping astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to visionary people. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet…I urge you: do not lose hope. We were made for these times. I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able crafts in the waters than there are right now across the world. Look out over the prow; there are millions of righteous souls on the waters with you. One of the most important steps you can take to help calm the storm is not to allow yourself to be taken in a flurry of despair. Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. To display the lantern of the soul in shadowy times like these, to be fierce and show mercy towards others, are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: when a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But…that is not what great ships are built for.”[5] Greenwood Forest, look up. Our beautiful ceiling resembles the underside of a ship, which has long been a symbol for the church universal’s journey in the world. Our challenge today is to see this place as the boat from which we leap like Peter to follow Jesus out on the water, rather than an ark in which we hide until the rain stops. We were made for times like this—to be salt for arid ground and light for a dark world. Let us stand up and let our souls shine for all those in our world who are waiting to see the light of other brave souls. If we can do that, then together, as the prophet Isaiah says our light will rise in the darkness, we will rebuild ruins, we will repair breaches, we will restore streets, and with the power of the God who made us salt and light, we will right the wrongs within our reach and be who we were built to be. Let us pray. [1] See Anthony Bradley, “You Are the Manure of the Earth” Christianity Today October 2016; and Eugene Deatrick, “Salt, Soil, Savior” The Biblical Archeaologist 25 no. 2 (May 1962). [2] Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship [3] See Yoder, The Politics of Jesus [4] See Wells, The Light of Truth ed. Mia Bay [5] http://newstoryhub.com/2020/02/do-not-lose-heart-we-were-made-for-these-times-clarissa-pinkola-estes-ph-d-2/?fbclid=IwAR3cYRVVnTRluXE5tueMFj3inmS4dnYwguMOJqDN5akfM5S7oh8DOXa4-bw
Noura Jackson was charged and convicted of killing her mother in a 2009 trial that made national headlines; however, citing significant missteps by the prosecutor in the case, her conviction was unanimously overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The lead prosecutor on the case was Shelby County's current elected District Attorney. Maintaining her innocence, Noura entered an Alford plea to manslaughter and was released from prison 3 years ago. We sat down with Noura to talk about life before and after prison, what's she's up to now, and her hopes for the future.
005 - Tennessee Supreme Court Justices by Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 and was the founder of the Democratic Party. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson served in Congress and gained fame as a general in the United States Army. As president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to preserve the Union. He became a practicing lawyer in Tennessee and in 1791 he married Rachel Donelson Robards. Jackson served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Upon returning to Tennessee, he was appointed a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court, serving from 1798 until 1804. In 1801, Jackson was appointed colonel in the Tennessee militia, and was elected its commander the following year. He led Tennessee militia and U.S. Army regulars during the Creek War of 1813–1814, winning a major victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The subsequent Treaty of Fort Jackson required the Creek surrender of vast lands in present-day Alabama and Georgia. Jackson won a decisive victory in the War of 1812 over the British army at the Battle of New Orleans, making him a national hero. Following the conclusion of the War of 1812, Jackson led U.S. forces in the First Seminole War, which helped produce the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 and the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States. Following the ratification of the treaty, Jackson briefly served as Florida's first territorial governor before winning election as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Jackson was a candidate for president in 1824 but, lacking a majority of electoral votes, lost the election in the House of Representatives to John Quincy Adams. In reaction to a "corrupt bargain" between opponents Adams and Henry Clay, Jackson's supporters founded the Democratic Party. He ran again for president in 1828 against Adams and won in a landslide. As president, Jackson faced a threat of secession by South Carolina over the "Tariff of Abominations" enacted under Adams. The Nullification Crisis was defused when the tariff was amended and Jackson threatened the use of military force if South Carolina attempted to secede. Congress, led by Clay, attempted to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States; Jackson regarded the Bank as a corrupt institution and vetoed the renewal of its charter. After a lengthy struggle, Jackson and the congressional Democrats thoroughly dismantled the Bank. In 1835, Jackson became the only president to completely pay off the national debt, fulfilling a longtime goal. In foreign affairs, Jackson's administration concluded a "most favored nation" treaty with Great Britain, settled U.S. claims of damages by France from the Napoleonic Wars, and recognized the Republic of Texas. His presidency marked the beginning of the ascendancy of the "spoils system" in American politics. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which relocated most members of the Native American tribes in the South to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The relocation process dispossessed the Indians and resulted in widespread death and sickness. In his retirement, Jackson remained active in Democratic Party politics, supporting the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk. Jackson was widely revered in the United States, but his reputation has declined since the mid-20th century, largely due to his role in Indian removal and support for slavery. Surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson between 6th and 18th most successful among United States presidents. From Wikipedia. Song during mid interstitial: "C-Funk" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 and was the founder of the Democratic Party. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson served in Congress and gained fame as a general in the United States Army. As president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to preserve the Union. He became a practicing lawyer in Tennessee and in 1791 he married Rachel Donelson Robards. Jackson served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Upon returning to Tennessee, he was appointed a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court, serving from 1798 until 1804. In 1801, Jackson was appointed colonel in the Tennessee militia, and was elected its commander the following year. He led Tennessee militia and U.S. Army regulars during the Creek War of 1813–1814, winning a major victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The subsequent Treaty of Fort Jackson required the Creek surrender of vast lands in present-day Alabama and Georgia. Jackson won a decisive victory in the War of 1812 over the British army at the Battle of New Orleans, making him a national hero. Following the conclusion of the War of 1812, Jackson led U.S. forces in the First Seminole War, which helped produce the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 and the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States. Following the ratification of the treaty, Jackson briefly served as Florida's first territorial governor before winning election as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Jackson was a candidate for president in 1824 but, lacking a majority of electoral votes, lost the election in the House of Representatives to John Quincy Adams. In reaction to a "corrupt bargain" between opponents Adams and Henry Clay, Jackson's supporters founded the Democratic Party. He ran again for president in 1828 against Adams and won in a landslide. As president, Jackson faced a threat of secession by South Carolina over the "Tariff of Abominations" enacted under Adams. The Nullification Crisis was defused when the tariff was amended and Jackson threatened the use of military force if South Carolina attempted to secede. Congress, led by Clay, attempted to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States; Jackson regarded the Bank as a corrupt institution and vetoed the renewal of its charter. After a lengthy struggle, Jackson and the congressional Democrats thoroughly dismantled the Bank. In 1835, Jackson became the only president to completely pay off the national debt, fulfilling a longtime goal. In foreign affairs, Jackson's administration concluded a "most favored nation" treaty with Great Britain, settled U.S. claims of damages by France from the Napoleonic Wars, and recognized the Republic of Texas. His presidency marked the beginning of the ascendancy of the "spoils system" in American politics. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which relocated most members of the Native American tribes in the South to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The relocation process dispossessed the Indians and resulted in widespread death and sickness. In his retirement, Jackson remained active in Democratic Party politics, supporting the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk. Jackson was widely revered in the United States, but his reputation has declined since the mid-20th century, largely due to his role in Indian removal and support for slavery. Surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson between 6th and 18th most successful among United States presidents. From Wikipedia. Song during mid interstitial: "C-Funk" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Mediation is a settlement process to help you and your spouse try and resolve the issues involved in your divorce case. The issues mediated can include child custody and parenting time issues if children are involved, alimony and property division, including who will receive what property and who will be responsible for which bills. Mediation is an informal process usually conducted around a conference room table. It is in a casual setting. The mediator is not a judge and does not make a decision or impose his or her will on the parties but attempts to find a solution to the dispute. At the mediation session, each person involved in the dispute presents a summary of his or her point of view. If you have an attorney, he or she will usually go with you to the mediation session. The mediator will usually meet with everyone together at the beginning and then meet individually with each side. This offers participants the opportunity to communicate to the mediator their real interests in the dispute as well as to vent anger or frustrations outside the presence of the opposing side. The mediator will work with each person until an agreement is reached or an impasse occurs. If an agreement is reached, is should be put in writing and signed by the parties. Although anyone with a law license can mediate a case, most mediators go through extensive training and become certified by the Tennessee Supreme Court as Rule 31 Certified Mediators. In addition, Rule 31 Certified Mediators must continue to receive training and education past the date of certification. Not all certified mediators are attorneys. Mediators generally range in price from $40.00 per hour on the low end, all the way up to $400.00 per hour and even more. Usually the cost is split equally between the parties, although in certain cases the court will require the costs be borne by the party with more resources. Not only do the mediators charge for their time, but the attorneys participating in the mediation charge their clients their usual hourly rate. The best way to avoid the expense involved in mediation is to settle all of the issues in your divorce or custody case. This can be done prior to or after filing the case by sitting down with the other party and working out an agreement that works for both of you. Another alternative is to have your attorney schedule a settlement conference with the other attorney. Such a conference can take place in the office of one of the attorneys and is similar to mediation except without the mediator. No matter which option you choose, it is always best to settle your case prior to turning all the decisions over to a judge. RESOURCES Mediation Overview Find a Mediator Mediation FAQ Parent’s Guide to Mediation
Lucian T. Pera is a partner with the Memphis, Tennessee, office of Adams and Reese LLP. His practice includes civil trial work, including commercial litigation and media law, and he counsels and represents lawyers, law firms, and others on questions of legal ethics and the professional responsibility of lawyers. A Memphis native, he is an honors graduate of Princeton University and Vanderbilt University School of Law. He served for five years on the ABA “Ethics 2000” Commission, which rewrote the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. From 1995 through 2009, he led the Tennessee Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Under his leadership, the committee developed and successfully proposed to the Tennessee Supreme Court new legal ethics rules for Tennessee based on the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. He has chaired the editorial board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct, has served as president of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, and serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Miller-Becker Institute for Professional Responsibility of the University of Akron. He is also the immediate past Treasurer of the American Bar Association, a former member of its Board of Governors and Executive Committee, and has served in the House of Delegates since 1990. He also serves as Vice President of the Tennessee Bar Association and will be its President in 2017.
On this episode, we tell the story of a will left by Lloyd Ford, of Washington County, Tennessee. This will was the subject of a pre-Civil War court battle in Jonesborough between Mr. Ford’s children and his slaves, and it went all the way up to the Tennessee Supreme Court, leading to a landmark decision. […]
Talking about the people that establishment use in their attempt to gain power! "Sheeple"!
Talking about the people that establishment use in their attempt to gain power! "Sheeple"!
This is a penal discussion on the ethical challenges American corporations face when they participate in the judicial electoral process. The program is co-sponsored by the Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity, Baruch College; Center for Political Accountability; and Carol & Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania as part of the David Berg Foundation Lecture Series. Donald Shepers, Director, The Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate, Integrity, makes the opening remarks. The panel is moderated by Marya Cotten, Assistant Professor of Law, Baruch College. Speakers include: Dorothy Samuels, Member, New York Times Editorial Board; author of The Selling of the Judiciary James Sample, Professor, Hofstra Law School; formerly director of the Judicial Elections Project at the Brennan Center, New York University Jeffery Berger, Associate, Mayer Brown The Hon. Penny White, Professor, University of Tennessee College of Law; former justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court Roy Schotland, Professor of Law, Georgetown University The event takes place on September, 17, 2009, at the Newman Conference Center, Room 750.
This is a penal discussion on the ethical challenges American corporations face when they participate in the judicial electoral process. The program is co-sponsored by the Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity, Baruch College; Center for Political Accountability; and Carol & Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania as part of the David Berg Foundation Lecture Series. Donald Shepers, Director, The Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate, Integrity, makes the opening remarks. The panel is moderated by Marya Cotten, Assistant Professor of Law, Baruch College. Speakers include: Dorothy Samuels, Member, New York Times Editorial Board; author of The Selling of the Judiciary James Sample, Professor, Hofstra Law School; formerly director of the Judicial Elections Project at the Brennan Center, New York University Jeffery Berger, Associate, Mayer Brown The Hon. Penny White, Professor, University of Tennessee College of Law; former justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court Roy Schotland, Professor of Law, Georgetown University The event takes place on September, 17, 2009, at the Newman Conference Center, Room 750.