Panel sends court nominees to Haslam early

NASHVILLE — The state’s Judicial Nominating Commission has sent the names of six attorneys to Gov. Bill Haslam for a seat on the West Tennessee section of the state Court of Appeals that becomes vacant Sept. 1, 2014.

The panel also sent 12 other nominees over the weekend for two other 2014 appeals court vacancies, one for the Court of Appeals’ Middle Tennessee section and one for the Court of Criminal Appeals East Tennessee section.

Why the rush? Because the nominating commission ceased to exist at midnight Sunday and its members wanted to select nominees before the deadline. Under the state’s “Sunset Law,” government agencies, departments, boards and commissions periodically expire unless they are specifically renewed by the Tennessee legislature. Lawmakers did not renew the commission before they adjourned in mid-April.

The commission met Saturday in Jackson to interview, review and hold a public hearing on appli- cants for the West Tennessee Court of Appeals seat that will be vacated Sept. 1, 2014, by the retirement of veteran Court of Appeals Judge Alan Highers.

The panel sent two slates of three nominees for each opening because the way the law works, the governor could choose among the first three nominees, or ask for three more.

The nominees for the West Tennessee seat on the Court of Appeals:

Panel A: Robert Lawson Childers, presiding judge of Shelby County Circuit Court; Brandon Owen Gibson, partner in Pentecost & Glenn law firm, Alamo; Arnold B. Goldin, Shelby County Chancery Court judge.

Panel B: Frank S. Cantrell, deputy director and general counsel, Memphis Area Legal Services; Dale Conder Jr., partner, Rainey Kizer Reviere & Bell, Jackson; Hubert Bailey Jones, attorney, Dyersburg.

It’s unclear when the governor will make his choices, or even whether he has to select from those nominees because the nominating commission has expired and the vacancies won’t exist for another 14 months.