LEGISLATIVE COLUMN
Capitol Notes | Peggy Sue, the Beagle Hound
You will be howling like a hound dog with a sore tail. —The Boss in All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren.
Tennessee Constitution, Article VI, Section 6 Section 8 Judges and Attorneys for the State may be removed from office by a concurrent vote of both Houses of the General Assembly, each House voting separately, but two-thirds of the members to which each House may be entitled must concur in such vote…. Howling Lawyers Our system of government based on a separation of powers among the three separate branches can be a yawner chapter in high school government classes. On February 24, 2021, State Representative Tim Rudd (R) of Murfreesboro filed House Resolution 23 (HR 23) to set in motion the process of removing Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle from office. Representative Rudd (age 50) is a two-term House member from Rutherford County who serves as Chair of the House Elections and Campaign Finance Subcommittee. As the pandemic ravaged summer of 2020, a state case was filed challenging state election officials’ po-
sitions on access to absentee ballots during Governor Bill Lee’s proclaimed state of emergency. Soon, Chancellor Lyle heard the case in a virtual setting. She ruled that the state’s position that fear of coronavirus infection was not a sufficient reason to request an absentee ballot presented an unreasonable burden on the fundamental right to vote. Legal skirmishing ensued, and an appeal was taken to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The Supreme Court vacated and remanded portions of the Chancellor’s order, but the absentee votes cast for the August election were permitted to be counted and the process was allowed in the November election. In the background, Representative Rudd was distressed that bills expanding access to absentee voting had failed in the General Assembly during the 2020 session. Every major association of lawyers in the state howled, rather than yawned, in their opposition to HR 23 as a breach of the concept of an independent and separate judicial branch. A special wag of the tail to the lawyers who took the time to appear on March 9, 2021, before the House Civil Justice Subcommittee and offer testimony on behalf of an independent judiciary and Chancellor Lyle. They are Celeste Herbert of Knoxville, Bob Boston of Nashville, and Joe Riley of Ridgely. The subcommittee heard the howls and defeated HR 23.
House have gone to floor sessions late on Monday afternoons and early on Thursday mornings. Soon, they will begin to wind down the session with floor sessions every day. Calendar Notes 1. Make an appointment for your Covid-19 vaccination. All good dogs get a rabies shot every year. Our humans need to do so for Covid-19. 2. May 1 is officially Law Day, and this year’s theme is Advancing the Rule of Law Now. Celebrate with us at our Law Day lunch, safely scheduled for Tuesday, October 12. 3. The State and the NBA will observe the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 31. 4. Looking ahead to 2022, judicial elections are Thursday, August 4, 2022, and for those counties holding primary elections, those are Tuesday, May 2, 2022. n PEGGY SUE is fond of the classic 1957 Buddy Holly song. When hunting legislative news or biscuits, she is hard to contact.
Schedule Notes The General Assembly has opened the throttle and is fully engaged with a regular schedule of thick calendars before subcommittees and committees. Both the Senate and the
APR/MAY 2021 | NASHVILLE BAR JOURNAL
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