Tennessee Sex Offense Registry Law Ruled Partly Unconstitutional

Tennessee’s sex offender registry act is unconstitutional when applied to people who committed their crimes before it was enacted, a federal judge ruled, though she stopped short of striking down any section of the law.

Judge Aleta A. Trauger granted summary judgment Thursday for nine men—each convicted of committing a violent sex crime before 1995—that had challenged the statute under the US Constitution’s ex post facto clause. The clause forbids retroactive punishment.

Trauger, writing for the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, acknowledged that there was initially little problem applying the law retroactively because it contained mostly ...