Tennessee Governor Bill HaslamLA VERGNE, Tenn. – Gov. Bill Haslam intends to put a special state Supreme Court back in action soon after three of his five appointees disqualified themselves last week from hearing a constitutional challenge to appellate judge selections.
The governor said Friday he is working to find “three great replacements” for retired state Supreme Court Justice William “Mickey” Barker, of Signal Mountain; former Supreme Court Justice George H. Brown; and Robert Echols, a former U.S. District Court judge.
“We’re in the process of coming up with another three we’ll nominate as well,” Haslam told reporters after a ribbon-cutting for a new Saks Direct fulfillment center in La Vergne. “Hopefully in the next week or so. We’re not far away from that.”
Haslam called appointing someone as a special justice “something you have to make certain people are willing to do.”
“We’re in the process of doing some background checks and then checking people’s availability. I wouldn’t think it would be more than a week,” he said.