Update: BPR considers suspending Hooker's license

BPR held disciplinary hearing this morning, now prepares to render ruling regarding lawyer's actions and words

Email | Print By Milt Capps

John Jay Hooker

UPDATED Nov. 30, 1:05 p.m. - The BPR took testimony in a 3-hour public disciplinary hearing this morning. Chair Tom Looney said the BPR panel will render a decision regarding sanctions against John Jay Hooker by Dec. 15. BPR Disciplinary Counsel Sandy Garrett has recommended Hooker's law license be suspended for not less than 30 days and not more than two years.  

As originally reported Nov. 29, 1:49 p.m.:

John Jay Hooker may not face his accusers tomorrow when he defends his law license and his access to Tennessee courts, but he will see some familiar faces.

Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman this morning quashed subpoenas by which John Jay Hooker might have forced a number of his critics to appear during his disciplinary hearing tomorrow before the Tennessee Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility.

Hooker has for years insisted and has filed suit arguing that Supreme Court justices and other appellate-court judges who hold office as a result of yes/no "retention" elections, rather than through popular contested votes, are serving illegally. His repeated litigation has twice drawn court sanctions against him and has led to formal complaints that he has violated a number of rules by filing "frivolous" lawsuits and criticizing judges in a way that undermines respect for the legal system.

Hooker had been seeking to force the testimony of Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William Barker, Associate Justice William Koch, former Justice A.A. Birch, Davidson County Circuit Judge Walter Kurtz, Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle and former Attorney General Paul Summers.

They will probably not be in attendance tomorrow, but some prominent members of the political and legal communities will be there, including former Governor Winfield Dunn and Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis' Mac Davis.

Hooker told NashvillePost.com, "My purpose is to convince the public that we have a constitutional crisis in Tennessee."

In her ruling, Bonnyman explained that Hooker had not provided evidence that any of the judges he recently subpoenaed could provide evidence useful in his defense against the professional misconduct charges he faces faces tomorrow.

Speaking to NashvillePost.com earlier this week, former Governor Dunn said that he plans to attend tomorrow's BPR hearing because, "As a citizen, I feel a great deal of sympathy for his position and I simply want to go and watch the wheels of justice turn."

Dunn said that while governor (1971-75), "I certainly was affected by the so-called modified Missouri plan that was initiated at the outset of my administration and had considerable consternation and frustration in dealing with that specific issue for a number of reasons..." Dunn added that the mechanism created for selection of judges "failed to function" and "caused me considerable distraction from other duties."

Davis told NashvillePost.com yesterday that he plans to testify for Hooker tomorrow.

Referring to the BPR, Davis said "I really don't know why they did this," adding that "it would be very good for this case to be publicized, for everybody to know what is happening, 'cause it's kind of scary."

Davis expressed confidence that Hooker will continue to press his argument, regardless of the outcome tomorrow. "He's going to keep on going. If he loses in this disbarment, I think he will bring a suit in a federal court."

Davis said that in his view Hooker's petitions cannot be considered "frivolous," because they are well grounded in Tennessee constitutional law and Hooker "absolutely believes what he's saying and he believes it's his patriotic duty" to pursue the matter, relentlessly.

Tomorrow's BPR panelists who will review complaints against Hooker are Joe Looney, of Looney & Looney in Crossville; Anne Martin of Bone McAllester Norton; and, Mary Jo Price, university counsel for Vanderbilt University.