FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement of the Knoxville Bar Association
Contact: Tasha Blakney, KBA Executive Director (865) 522‐6522
The Tennessee legislature’s recent injection of partisan politics into a judicial confirmation proceeding resulted in the loss of a supremely qualified nominee, a challenge to the integrity of the appointment process, an intrusion on the separation of powers in our State, and an infringement on the rights guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution.
Although the legislative branch is granted power to confirm judicial appointments, Article I, § 4 of the Tennessee Constitution expressly states, “That no political or religious test, other than an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of this State, shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this State.” Our legislature violated this right when certain members of the Senate Judiciary Committee conducted a targeted and purely partisan examination of a nominee, focusing on political themes and disregarding qualifications related to experience, ability, and integrity.
These legislators ignored the nominee’s endorsement by the Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments and the nomination by Governor Bill Lee, forcing a highly qualified nominee to withdraw. The use of a political test by members of our legislature denigrated our judicial selection process and cast doubt on the fairness of our system for selecting judges.
The Knoxville Bar Association protests the legislature’s recent adherence to party politics rather than the careful scrutiny of a judicial nominee’s character, legal, and professional qualifications, and urges members of the General Assembly to honor their Oaths of Office and uphold the Tennessee Constitution in all future judicial appointments.
About the Knoxville Bar Association
The Knoxville Bar Association is a non-profit corporation organized to work for the improvement and increased effectiveness of the legal profession and the administration of justice. We are a professional association of approximately 2,000 members, consisting of lawyers, judges, legal educators, and law students. The KBA’s mission is to educate lawyers, to provide service to the community, and to promote the administration of justice. The KBA also serves as the voice of the legal profession in East Tennessee on matters such as promoting justice and respect for the rule of law and the independence and integrity of the legal system.
The Knoxville Bar Association presented the 2026 Law & Liberty Award to Caitlin A. Torney in conjunction with the Association’s Law Day festivities on Wednesday, April 29. Ms. Torney is the Director of Career Services and Alumni Relations at Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. Prior to her employment at LMU, she served as the Pro Bono Coordinator for Legal Aid of East Tennessee. During her five‐year tenure in that position, Ms. Torney helped expand pro bono services offered to the community and supported significant and ongoing partnerships within the local legal community. In addition to many other accomplishments, Ms. Torney was celebrated for her efforts to increase access to justice initiatives to serve veterans, small business owners, and victims of natural disasters in the region.
An active member of the KBA Access to Justice Committee, Ms. Torney is a graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law and has practiced law in both North Carolina and Tennessee.
The Knoxville Bar Association Law & Liberty Award seeks to recognize a person who has provided extraordinary service to the community, particularly in demonstrating and encouraging an abiding respect for the rule of law and in the improvement of the legal system for all members of the community. Knoxville Bar President Rachel Hurt said, “Caitlin Torney is a prime example of the attributes we seek to celebrate in this award. Her contributions to our community and our profession make her an extraordinary recipient of this prestigious award.”
Published February 10, 2026 by Andy Sher
Gov. Bill Lee delivers his final State of the State address on Feb. 2, 2026. (Credit: Erik Schelzig)
Gov. Bill Lee's choice for an open position on the state Court of Appeals appears to be giving up on her nomination after Republicans raised questions about past partisan activity.
Lee last month named Rachel Park Hurt, a partner with Arnett, Baker, Draper and Hagood law firm, to the intermediate appellate court vacancy created by the retirement of Judge D. Michael Swiney.
"It's my understanding she is withdrawing her name from consideration," Sen. John Stevens of Huntingdon, a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Tennessee Journal on Tuesday. The panel had been scheduled to hold a hearing on Hurt and two other nominees later in the day. "There were some online political activities that supported candidates that raised some eyebrows," Stevens said.
In digging into Hurt's history, GOP researchers had found she gave $400 to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she ran against Republican Donald Trump in 2016 and that she had backed a challenger to state Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, two years later.
In 2018, Hurt posted on social media that while she couldn't vote for Democrat Jamie Ballinger, a fellow Knoxville attorney, because she lived outside the district. But she hastened to add: "I would if I could and in my heart for sure!"
Briggs defeated Ballinger by 11 percentage points.
Hurt did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Neither did the governor's office.
"In general, the General Assembly has been really supportive of Gov. Lee's nominees because they share a standard judicial philosophy," he said.
Stevens acknowledged that sitting judges have waded into politics in the past. "But I think this level of political activity just causes concern," he said..
Voters in 2014 approved a constitutional amendment that enshrined the state's system of gubernatorial appointments and yes-no retention elections. It also for the first time gave the General Assembly the authority to reject the governor's nominees on the front end. Both chambers hold hearings on appellate appointments before holding a joint convention to take final vote.
No appellate appointee had previously been turned back since the amendment was approved.
Lee last month also nominated Kyle Hixson of Knoxville for a Supreme Court opening and Madison County Chancellor Steven Maroney to another vacancy on the Court of Appeals.
The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to hold hearings on all three appellate nominees on Tuesday afternoon.
Link to original article in Tennessee Journal: https://pro.stateaffairs.com/tn/courts/gov-lee-court-appeals-nominee-withdraws
On November 19, 2025, the KBA Board passed the following policy on issuing public statements:
KNOXVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION POLICY ON ISSUING PUBLIC STATEMENTS
The Knoxville Bar Association (KBA) may take a public position or endorse or advocate for or against significant issues involving:
The KBA shall take a public position only if the position would further the interests of the KBA, its members, and the legal community at large. This Policy operates independently of the KBA Policy on Meeting Unjust Criticism of the Judicial System. Further, this Policy does not apply to the KBA Judicial Survey administered by the KBA Judicial Committee or to Public Comments submitted with regard to proposed rule changes, as considered by the Professionalism Committee and the Board of Governors.
Requests
Requests that the KBA take a public position or endorse or advocate for or against an issue (“Request”) shall be submitted directly, or otherwise distributed, to the President or the Executive Director. The Request should be in writing. Requests may originate from any KBA member, or at the discretion of the Executive Director or President, upon request of any other organization, entity, or individual.
The Request should set forth:
Upon receipt of a Request, the President and Executive Director shall initially determine whether the Request is consistent with the Guidelines of this Policy or fails to meet the criteria of these Guidelines. If the Request fails to meet the criteria of these Guidelines, the President or Executive Director shall so advise the person or entity making the Request.
If the President and Executive Director initially determine that the Request is consistent with the Guidelines of this Policy, the President and/or Executive Director shall refer the Request for consideration to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall then review the Request to determine whether it meets the criteria for issuing a statement. Based on its determination, the Executive Committee shall either (1) formulate and issue a public statement responsive to the Request, (2) decline to formulate and issue a public statement, or (3) refer the Request to the KBA Board of Governors for a determination of whether to issue a public statement.
The determination by the Executive Committee must be by unanimous vote of members present, whether in person or by electronic means. If no unanimous decision can be made whether to issue a public statement, the Executive Committee may decide by majority vote to refer the Request to the KBA Board of Governors. Failure of the Executive Committee to take action on the Request, or to refer the Request to the Board of Governors, shall serve as a denial of the Request.
Where circumstances require a statement before the Executive Committee has a reasonable opportunity to review the Request, the President, in consultation with the Executive Director, may provide a public statement consistent with the Guidelines of this Policy.
In determining whether to formulate and issue a public statement without referring the Request to the Board of Governors, the Executive Committee may consider whether:
The following are the kinds of cases in which adopting an official position statement may be appropriate:
The following factors should be considered in determining whether a response should be made in determining the official position to be taken:
The following are the kinds of cases in which an official position statement IS NOT appropriate, except in unusual circumstances:
To be effective, the official position statement should be prompt and issued at a time it will have an appropriate effect.
An official position statement should be posted on the KBA website or social media and/or be included in letter(s) to the editor and/or submitted via press release. The President and Executive Director may consider other means of publicizing the statement to others, as may be appropriate.
Drafting Considerations.
KBA Member Survey Results Released Evaluating Candidates for Knox County Law Director and Judicial Candidates
Knox County voters will be returning to the polls soon, and the Knoxville Bar Association wants to do its part to educate voters about elections related to the judicial system.
KBA members voted in a recent survey in order to evaluate the candidates for Knox County Law Director, Knox County Criminal Court Judge Division II, and one Tennessee Supreme Court Justice who is being considered for retention election.
“Local attorneys have a unique perspective about candidates offering themselves for service in offices which directly relate to the administration of justice. For that reason, as a service to our community, we ask lawyers to share their views in a survey before they head to the polls themselves to cast their votes,” said Knoxville Bar Association President Carlos Yunsan.
The Judicial Committee, a nonpartisan committee of the KBA, oversees the candidate survey and asks local attorneys to anonymously rate candidates as either strongly recommended, recommended, not recommended, strongly not recommended, or without knowledge to rate the candidate. In the recent survey, more than 300 local legal professionals provided responses for the public’s consideration. See attached for survey results.
The complete survey results are available, along with candidate profiles, here: 2024 Knox County General Election.
The Knox County General Election is August 1, and early voting runs from July 12-27.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Knoxville Bar Foundation inducted 10 new members into the Fellows of the Knoxville Bar Foundation during a reception on June 25, 2026. Induction into the Foundation is an honor for local attorneys. Each year, the Foundation selects among many eligible nominations, and membership as a Fellow represents less than one percent of the lawyers practicing in the Knoxville community. The Fellows consist of lawyers of the highest caliber in our community who have distinguished themselves in the practice of law and in service. The 2024 Class of Fellows is as follows: Joshua J. Bond Donald J. Farinato Bryce E. Fitzgerald Janet S. Hayes Joan M. Heminway Benjamin W. Jones B. Chase Kibler James S. MacDonald Brandon L. Morrow Robert P. Noell The Knoxville Bar FoundaƟon is a not-for-profit foundation established to improve public awareness of the legal system in Knoxville, the administration of justice, and the delivery of legal services through the distribution of grant funding. Contact: Tasha C. Blakney, tblakney@knoxbar.org
Click here to view the clinic flyer.
RE: ATTORNEY NOTICE OF APPEARANCE All attorneys appearing on behalf of a defendant who intends to enter a plea of not guilty and contest a violation must file a notice of appearance with the Court. The notice must be filed no less than fourteen days before the defendant's next scheduled court appearance at which the attorney intends to appear. Notice must be submitted by mail, electronic mail to citycourt@knoxvilletn.gov, or filed in person. Notice must also be served upon the City of Knoxville Law Director's Office by the same methods and within the same period of time. If notice is not filed or is untimely, the defendant's court date will be reset no less than fourteen days. Attorneys appearing on behalf of a defendant who intends to enter a no-contest or guilty plea are not required to file a notice of appearance. This rule shall take effect on March 19, 2024. Read the full release here.
WATE Knox County News met with KBA Members Devin Devore and Caitlin Torney, as well as Executive Director Tasha Blakney, to share information about the Faith & Justice Alliance Legal Clinic on February 10. This interview was held at the clinic's location, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 400 Kendall Road. The published article gives insight as to what the public can expect at the clinic, and members can watch the full released interview below.
The Knoxville Bar Foundation was established in 1992 to improve the administration of justice, to enhance the public’s understanding of and confidence in the legal system, and to serve the legal profession. Since its inception, the Bar Foundation has awarded approximately $ 560,000 in grants for local law-related projects and programs. This is a meaningful contribution to programs that promote and enable the essence of what we, as lawyers, seek – liberty and justice for all. Last year, the Board of Directors approved twelve grant requests totaling $25,000.
In May 2024, the Knoxville Bar Foundation will again award grants to deserving applicants. The individual grant awards usually are $5,000 or less, and the deadline for submitting grant applications is March 8, 2024. Please note that grant funding may not be used for operating costs and endowments. We are excited about this year’s grant program and encourage interested parties and organizations to apply.
Learn more about the Knoxville Bar Foundation and submit an online application at https://www.knoxbar.org/?pg=KnoxvilleBarFoundation.
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