Knoxville, Tennessee, September 4, 2026
-- Elliott Schuchardt, a former
candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court
to require Tennessee to use a neutral judge in attorney ethics cases.
According to Schuchardt’s petition,
Tennessee allows state attorneys to select their own judge in cases involving
lawyers’ licenses. Tennessee is the only
state in the United States that does not use a neutral judge in these
cases.
Until 2016, Tennessee chose the
fact-finder in such cases by means of a rotating system. Under such system, neither the state nor the
respondent attorney chose the judge. Tennessee
abandoned the rotating selection system in 2016, because the state ethics board
could not prove that it was complying with the rules.
Now Tennessee simply allows one party
– the prosecutor – to choose the judge. Schuchardt
says the system is illegal under federal law.
“Imagine if your ex-spouse could choose the judge in your divorce
case. That wouldn’t be fair. And it’s not permitted under the constitution,”
he says.
Schuchardt says the lack of due
process has led to abuses at the Board.
He says that Tennessee is filing ethics cases against attorneys who run
for political office. Schuchardt has a
list of nearly 60 attorneys who were sued by the Board, after they announced
their candidacy.
In 2025, Schuchardt sued a lawyer at
the Board of Professional Responsibility, for allegedly fabricating evidence. Schuchardt says that he was not permitted to
talk to witnesses, testify, or present exhibits opposed to the state. “They get away with this stuff because they get
to choose the judge,” he says.
Schuchardt complained about the lack
of due process at the Board to his State Representative, Elaine Davis.
Davis represents much of Knox County
in the Tennessee General Assembly. For
the past two legislative terms, Davis was responsible for supervising judges in
Tennessee, through the Judiciary Committee.
Schuchardt says that Elaine Davis is
not doing her job. According to
Schuchardt, “Elaine Davis keeps saying that she’ll look into it. But nothing
ever happens.”
Davis is running for re-election this
fall in the November election, against Democrat Bryan Goldberg.
* * *
Schuchardt studied law at Columbia
Law School and government at Cornell University. He practiced law for nearly thirty years
before running for office in 2026. He
focused his legal practice on civil liberties issues in the courts.
Contact Information:
Elliott J. Schuchardt
2322 Jockey Run Trail
Knoxville, TN 37920
Phone: (865) 304-4374
E-mail: elliott016@gmail.com
Book
website: www.elliott-author.com
Twitter: https://x.com/EJSchuchardt
