The Department of Justice issued a Letter of Findings to the Tennessee Supreme Court determining that two attorney regulatory agencies in Tennessee discriminated against lawyers applying to be admitted to the practice of law for undergoing treatment for opioid addiction. The DOJ found that the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners (TBLE) and the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) violated Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The DOJ conducted the investigation in response to complaints from two attorney applicants, known as D.S. and C.B. D.S. has since identified himself to the press as Derek Scott, who passed the Tennessee State Bar exam in 2021. The DOJ concluded that two aspects of the agencies’ conduct violated the ADA: “(1) subjecting bar applicants to burdensome supplemental investigations triggered by their status or treatment for a substance use disorder; and (2) excluding them or implementing burdensome, intrusive, and unnecessary conditions on admission that are improperly based on individuals’ diagnosis of or treatment for a substance use or mental health disorder.”