Gordon and Lewis added to Supreme Court lawsuit

Hearing to decide who should be on nomination list scheduled for next Wednesday

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

The never-ending saga over the last remaining vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court continued today, with Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle adding Covington attorney Houston Gordon to a lawsuit filed by Gov. Phil Bredesen. Lyle added Memphis attorney George T. "Buck" Lewis to the case as well.

Bredesen filed suit in September in Davidson County Chancery Court, seeking declaratory judgement over who he can consider to fill a vacancy on the state's high court created by the retirement of Justice A. A. Birch.

Last month, Gordon sought a motion to intervene, arguing that as a nominee in the disputed process that he was relevant to the case. Lyle today has agreed, and also indicated that Lewis was also relevant to the case and would be added.

In today's ruling (a copy of which is available at this link), Lyle said that she will hold a hearing next week that will focus on four issues. Those issues are:

1. Is it a statutory precondition that Bredesen have three nominees on the first panel recommended to him? As you recall, Davidson County Chancellor Richard Dinkins withdrew from consideration from the states top court, leaving only two nominees, Lewis and Gordon, that Bredesen rejected.

2. By requiring Bredesen to submit the reasons for the rejection of a panel in writing, can the recommending panel review his reasons for its lawfulness and validity? When Bredesen rejected Lewis and Gordon, he cited a need for diversity on the court since there were no African-Americans. Some members of the nominating panel said that that reasoning was discriminatory.

3. Do the Tennessee Human Rights Act, or Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, apply to decisions Bredesen made? In other words, can Bredesen cite only a need for diversity in rejecting a panel, and is that legal?

4. When a second panel of nominees was given to Bredesen, was it lawful to include a person who had already had been rejected? Gordon was on both panels given to Bredesen for consideration, something that then Attorney General Paul Summers opined was not legal.

The hearing is set for Wednesday, December 13.