State House Speaker Cameron Sexton faces a First Amendment lawsuit over House rules that bar members of the public from holding signs, including those on 8.5x11 pieces of paper, in committee rooms. Three women were kicked out for continuing hold their signs during a House Civil Justice subcommittee meeting that was hearing various public safety bills during the special session.
In a victory for transparency that we should all hopes sticks, an advisory commission that recommends court rules on practices and procedures has started holding meetings open to the public. The open meetings are the result of a federal lawsuit and an order by the judge that said the First Amendment right of access to court proceedings likely requires the meetings to be open.
A federal judge in Nashville ruled that the press and the public likely have a First Amendment right of access to meetings of a court rules commission that recommends rules of procedure and practice for all Tennessee courts. U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson ordered that the meetings no longer be closed, and said opening the meetings will create public confidence and transparency, and likely result in better rules.
A school board's agreement to not say anything disparaging about a director of schools it fired violates the First Amendment free speech rights of school board members, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in a case upholding a lower court's decision.
A federal judge declined on Tuesday to issue a temporary restraining order requested by a media organization that wanted to cover the Tennessee Judicial Conference annual meeting after getting assurances from a deputy attorney general that the meeting to take place on Wednesday was only an educational "CLE for judges."
