*Former TV judge Joe Brown is no longer allowed to practice law in Tennessee under an order from the state Supreme Court.
According to The Commercial Appeal, the state’s highest court has placed Brown on disability inactive status, which designates that a lawyer is temporarily disabled and incapacitated from practicing law. Lawyers can resume practice when they prove to the court that the disability has been removed.
His production company Celebritunity says Brown “is suffering from what hopefully will prove to be a temporary disability as a result of complications following from Type II Diabetes and the effects of prescribed medications for the condition, combined with hypertension and stress.”
Brown unsuccessfully ran for Shelby County district attorney in 2014. He was jailed for five days last September for contempt of court stemming from an outburst in Juvenile Court in March 2014.
According to TMZ, Brown’s current benching was triggered by a disciplinary hearing over the 2014 outburst. The Tennessee Supreme Court determined Brown’s disability made him unable to defend himself in the disciplinary hearing, so he was placed on inactive status.