11 apply for Tennessee Supreme Court opening, including one from Chattanooga

Three appellate judges and a former state representative are among the 11 lawyers who applied for a seat on the Tennessee Supreme Court. One applicant is from Chattanooga.

Applications for the position closed at noon on Friday. The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments will hold a twoday public hearing beginning Dec. 8 to determine three nominations to forward to Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

The applicants include:

› William Blaylock, chief hearing officer at Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Unemployment Appeals Tribunal.

› Sarah Campbell, associate solicitor general and special assistant to the Tennessee attorney general.

› Kristi M. Davis, Tennessee Court of Appeals judge.

› Timothy L. Easter, Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals judge.

› Kelvin D. Jones, a Davidson County Circuit Court judge who faced a misconduct complaint this year.

› William Neal McBrayer, Tennessee Court of Appeals judge.

› J. Douglas Overbey, counsel at a Knoxville law firm who formerly served as a U.S. attorney, state House member and state senator.

› Robert F. Parsley, a lawyer at a Chattanooga law firm who formerly clerked for the Tennessee Supreme Court under Chief Justice Frank Drowota.

› Jonathan T. Skrmetti, chief deputy Tennessee attorney general.

› Gingeree Smith, a lawyer in a Smyrna private practice.

› Jeffrey Usman, a law professor at Belmont University College of Law.

The new appointee will fill the seat of Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia Clark, who died in September. Clark was appointed by former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, to the bench in 2005.

The five-justice Supreme Court considers appeals from Tennessee’s lower courts. Tennessee Supreme Court justices are initially appointed by the governor and then face a “retention” vote every eight years.

State law mandates no more than two justices can reside in the same grand division of the state. Current Justices Holly Kirby and Roger Page reside in West Tennessee, leaving an opening in East Tennessee with Justice Sharon Lee or Middle Tennessee with Jeffrey Bivins.

Kirby, Page and Bivins were all appointed by former Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, while Lee was appointed by Bredesen.