hot pUTato

 
After Lane Kiffin, the widely despised former University of Tennessee football coach, hired the runninng backs coach away from the Tennessee Titans, the Titans sued Kiffin and his new employer, the University of Southern California, in federal court for interfering with its contractual relations with the running backs coach and for inducing the breach of his contract.  Since that time, two federal judges have recused themselves to avoid any appearance of impropriety -- Judge Campbell, who attended UT College of Law and has a daughter who is applying to USC, and Judge Trauger, whose husband was involved in negotiating the deal to bring the Titans to Nashville. The case has now been reassigned to Senior Judge John T. Nixon. Given the importance of football in Tennessee, this case might never be heard were it not for the lifetime tenure granted to federal judges.  As it stands now, this case is set for trial on August 2, 2011. You can read more about this story here.