Bryce Ashby – Memphis Flyer

A Memphis law firm left the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) Tuesday after the firm said the group had “voted to remain silent” on President Donald Trump’s actions to erode the rule of law and an independent judiciary.

Donati Law ended more than 40 years of membership with TBA Tuesday in a letter made public on Facebook Wednesday. The Midtown law firm focuses on employment law, personal injury, and criminal defense, according to its website.

”It is with great sadness that we feel obligated to leave the TBA due to its refusal to take a stand consistent with the ideals of the Rule of Law and an independent judiciary in the face of extreme threats from the executive branch,” reads the letter addressed to TBA leaders.

The letter says, specifically, that the TBA “once again voted to remain silent” on April 14. Details of the triggering event on this date were not immediately clear, but Donati attorney Bryce Ashby said it was related to activities from another Memphis attorney, Brian Faughnan, of Faughnan Law.

On his blog, Faughnan on Ethics, Faughnan said many bar associations, like the American Bar Association, have spoken out against Trump actions that erode the rule of law. In an April 8^th blog post, though, Faughnan said, ”the Tennessee Bar Association and the Memphis Bar Association have not.”

After private talks with the TBA, he said on April 16, he’d become “more and more convinced that the TBA is actually determined to remain silent in an unforgivable act of cowardice.”

The TBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. But this story will be updated with their statement if it does.

The Donati letter provides a long list of the Trump-Administration actions that threaten “the very fabric of our constitutional system.” That list includes Vice President JD Vance and Memphis businessman and DOGE frontman Elon Musk calling for the impeachment of judges based on decisions to try to rein in executive overreach. The firm is also wary of Border czar Tom Horan and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who have said that judiciary has no power over the executive branch and that court orders may simply be disregarded.

The list from the firm included the Trump adminstration’s refusal to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order, as well as those of lower courts that required due process for immigrants facing deportation, and the return of Kilmar Ábrego Garcia from El Salvador.

The firm said Trump has fired “those charged with ensuring the rule of law” including some at the Department of Justice, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, and 17 inspectors general.

Finally, Donati said Trump has ordered retribution against law firms because of positions they have taken on behalf of clients or because of attorneys hired by their firms.

”These are but a few examples of the full-blown assault on the rule of law and the judiciary,” reads the letter. “These actions damage our system of justice and must be condemned.

“Remaining silent is complicity. The TBA has stayed silent and once again voted to remain silent on April 14, despite the TBA’s self-professed role as a ‘strong advocate for the profession and the development and maintenance of our justice system.’ As a result, we can no longer continue our membership with the Tennessee Bar Association.”

Christian Brothers University

While the nation fixates on Donald Trump’s vitriolic anti-immigrant plan — a plan that effectively delivers the presidency to the Democratic candidate in 2016 — a very different and refreshing approach to immigration has emerged here in Memphis.

Christian Brothers University recently announced a $12.5 million initiative to educate DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) kids. DACA kids are children who were born elsewhere and brought here by their parents, which makes this population ineligible for higher education federal grants and loans. Also under current Tennessee law, these students must pay out-of-state tuition. DACA kids attend our public schools. Many graduate at the top of their class and dream to achieve success through education and hard work. Enrollment for post-secondary education, however, is complicated and, in most cases, prohibitively expensive.

The “Latino Student Success” initiative at CBU, founded in partnership with Latino Memphis, builds on the philosophy of the 17th-century French aristocrat Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, who gave up his fortune and dedicated his life to educating the poor. The initiative also acknowledges 21st-century American reality, i.e., demographics: Hispanics comprise 18 percent of the nation’s population; they are a potent force as consumers, as investors, and, increasingly, in the political arena. In the upcoming presidential election, the Hispanic vote will be crucial in many states but especially significant in the so-called swing states — Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, and Iowa.

CBU has financed the program with a $3.5 million seed grant and plans to raise $9 million for a total of $12.5 million. The money will allow them to offer tuition at cost and provide no-interest loans to students who must pay back $50 per month on the loan — symbolic money for many of us, but these monthly payments inculcate financial responsibility. CBU also ingrains the mantra that students will “enter to learn, leave to serve” and that they should serve the Memphis community.

This type of creative financing could be a model for all schools in the city, and Christian Brothers University hopes to grow its Hispanic population from where it was two years ago (3 percent of total students) to 10 percent next fall, with a continued climb up.

This program is admirable for (at least) three reasons: First, it’s a humane and creative way to help educate young students who seek a college education and hope to become productive participants in society. Second, it acknowledges the fact that Hispanics make up about 10 percent of the Memphis population. And finally, it’s eminently practical in that it forces people to choose a side in a debate that ought to be a nondebate: Are you on the side of providing or denying educational opportunities to young people in the city and county? The university is making a worthwhile investment in the Latino population, because, according to Dr. Anne Kenworthy, vice president for enrollment at the university, “they represent the future of this city.”

This intelligent, local, and progressive approach has been overshadowed by a very different, but related, news story emerging from the Trump presidential campaign. Trump released his first policy paper — a piece of magical nonrealism in a campaign that’s already outlived its usefulness.

Trump’s national campaign is fueled by his money and a rabid, angry Republican base that is anything but Christian in its simmering hostility toward Hispanics. Trump calls for construction of a “beautiful” wall. (“I want it to be so beautiful, because maybe someday they’re going to call it the Trump wall.”) He’s called for the mass deportation of 11 million people and modification of the 14th Amendment to take away “birthright citizenship.” No serious candidate speaks like this, and, although his candidacy will fail, he has been successful in driving his fellow candidates and his party to an indefensible position on immigration.

So let’s tune out Trump and focus on the good people at Christian Brothers University here in Memphis. They represent what’s true and great about America. They’re providing an excellent education to the underprivileged among us, they’re building our community, and their optimism is evident and inspiring.

Bryce Ashby is a Memphis attorney; Michael J. LaRosa teaches history at Rhodes College.