Support our ballot initiative! Together, we can deal with the dollar.

 

Schuchardt filed ethics complaint against bankruptcy judge

Elliott Schuchardt, a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly, filed a complaint against a federal bankruptcy judge. Schuchardt says that he is running for office as a direct result of that complaint.

Schuchardt, a graduate of Columbia Law School, practiced law for nearly thirty years before tangling with Suzanne Bauknight, a Knoxville bankruptcy judge.

In 2017, Bauknight handled a case involving Upright Law, a Chicago law firm. At that time, Upright Law was opening offices in all fifty states. It's objective was to provide consumer bankruptcy services on a nationwide basis. Upright Law was not popular in Tennessee, because its business model threatened the local bankruptcy bar.

Bankruptcy Judge Bauknight apparently decided that she wanted to exclude Upright Law from the Knoxville market. In 2016, she began issuing orders attacking Upright Law's attorneys and legal fees.

Bauknight's orders were unusual because she used "orders to show cause." Such orders are issued by a court on its own initiative, without any person requesting the order.

Between May 18, 2016 and June 20, 2018, Bauknight issued at least 87 orders to show cause against Upright Law. Bauknight intially attacked Grace Gardner, an African American attorney with two decades of experience practicing bankruptcy law. Gardner had no history of ethical problems. Nevertheless, Bauknight suspended Gardner from practicing in her court for five years.

In early 2017, Schuchardt agreed to represent Upright Law, in place of Gardner. Like Gardner, Schuchardt had no history of ethical problems.

After Gardner's departure, Bauknight continued to attack Upright Law with orders, on her own initiative. Soon, it became clear that the purpose of the orders was money. Bauknight used the orders to force Upright Law to pay one of her friends, Gwendolyn Kerney, $200,000. Kerney was a court-insider, who worked closely with Bauknight.

In 2020, Schuchardt filed an ethics complaint about Bauknight with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In the complaint, Schuchardt said that Bauknight used her federal office to obtain special treatment for Kerney. This was a violation of federal law.

Schuchardt also said that Bauknight used her orders to interfere with litigation. When Schuchardt appealed two of Bauknight's orders, Bauknight threatened to suspend Schuchardt’s license to practice in her court, if he did not dismiss the appeals. Schuchardt agreed to dismiss the appeals, under duress.

Bauknight next began to attack Schuchardt's license to practice law through the Tennessee state courts.

In Tennessee, attorneys are licensed through an organization known as the Board of Professional Responsibility. In 2018, the board filed a case against Schuchardt on behalf of Bauknight. Between 2018 and 2024, the board filed seven cases against Schuchardt, to prevent Schuchardt from practicing law in Tennessee.

Schuchardt sought to placate Bauknight by withdrawing his ethics complaint against her. However, Bauknight's allies at the board refused to back off. The board refused to withdraw its attacks on Schuchardt's license.

In 2025, Schuchardt sued the chief attorney at the board for harassment. Schuchardt's complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, said the defendant, Sandra Garrett, was filing ethics cases for political purposes, as an abuse of process. Schuchardt also alleged that Garrett was using her state office to fabricate evidence.

Eventually, Schuchardt learned that the board had filed ethics cases against more than fifty political candidates in Tennessee. Many were running for office against sitting judges.

As of this date, Schuchardt's case is pending in Nashville federal court. The Tennessee Supreme Court has issued an order preventing Schuchardt from presenting evidence in defense of his law license. Schuchardt disputes the order as a patent violation of due process and fair play.

In 2025, Schuchardt decided to run for the Tennessee General Assembly, to break the political stalemate. Schuchardt intends to use the election as a means to promote change at the state’s ethics board. “If we had more non-lawyers in the system, we would get better decisions from the hearing panels,” he says.

Schuchardt is also running for office for other reasons. Schuchardt is the author of America’s Achilles Heel: How to Protect Your Family When America Loses the Reserve Currency. The book argues that the U.S. dollar is artificially-overvalued, due to the dollar's use as the world's reserve currency. Schuchardt says that the dollar could drop in value, if the world were to trade oil in a new currency. He says that this could be catastrophic for the United States, if it caused oil prices to rise in dollar terms.

Schuchardt studied government at Cornell University and Oxford University. Schuchardt practiced law for nearly thirty years, before running for office. He focused his legal practice on civil liberties issues in the courts.

Schuchardt calls for new electronic tolling lanes on I-40 corridor

 

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

        Knoxville, Tennessee – January 14, 2026 – Elliott Schuchardt, a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly, is calling for electronic tolling lanes on the I-40 corridor through Knoxville.

        Knoxville, Tennessee is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States.  Since 2010, nearly 80,000 people have moved to Knox County from elsewhere in the United States.  Each day, more than 200,000 cars pass through the Knoxville corridor on Interstate 40. 

      According to Schuchardt, traffic on I-40 has increased dramatically.  “Fifteen years ago – in 2010 – it was possible to drive through Knoxville on I-40 at rush hour without slowing down,” Schuchardt says.  “There were two motorcycle cops out every morning, at the Papermill exit, to ensure that no one went too fast,” he says.  Today, that is no longer possible.  The 17-mile stretch of I-40 from Knoxville to Loudon County, in the west, is marked by congestion on most days.  

          Schuchardt says the solution is to add electronic tolling lanes to the I-40 corridor.  According to federal law, Tennessee can add electronic tolling lanes to I-40, provided that the state does not reduce the number of pre-existing free lanes. 

            Schuchardt says that several states use electronic tolling lanes – side-by-side – with free lanes, to keep traffic moving.  This is common on major corridors like I-95, near Washington, D.C.  Virginia, Florida, California, Maryland, and Texas use systems like E-ZPass or FasTrak for congestion relief.  These systems use dynamic pricing to enable faster travel.

          According to Schuchardt, “more and more, this is not going to be an option.”  “Our highways pose a common pool problem,” he says.  A common pool problem occurs when individuals overuse a free, shared resource (like fish in the ocean or groundwater) because it's in each person's interest to do so. This leads to collapse of the resource for everyone. 

           “If we don’t implement electronic tolling, we simply won’t be able to use our highways efficiently during peak hours,” Schuchardt says.  Schuchardt says that this will slow the region’s economy, and create a public safety hazard.  “Electronic tolling will ensure that traffic will move at peak times during the day,” he says. 

          The State of Tennessee is studying electronic tolling for the I-40 corridor in Knoxville.  The Tennessee Department of Transportation has been holding hearings to solicit community opinion on the idea.  TDOT is expected to release its findings on the issue later this year.

*  *  *

     Elliott J. Schuchardt is a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly in the August 2026 election.  Schuchardt is the author of America’s Achilles Heel:  How to Protect Your Family When America Loses the Reserve Currency. 

    Schuchardt studied government at Cornell University and Oxford University.  He is also a graduate of Columbia Law School.  Schuchardt practiced law for nearly thirty years, before running for office.  He focused his legal practice on civil liberties issues in the courts.   

 

CONTACT:

Elliott J. Schuchardt

2322 Jockey Run Trail

Knoxville, TN 37920

Call or Text: (865) 304-4374

E-mail:                  elliott016@gmail.com

Campaign site:      www.elect-schuchardt.com

Twitter or X:         https://x.com/EJSchuchardt

Book Website:      www.elliott-author.com

Campaign Blog:    www.elliottschuchardt.blogspot.com

Facebook:              www.facebook.com/profile

#  #  #

 

United States needs to prepare for a drop in the value of the dollar

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

     Knoxville, Tennessee -- December 19, 2025 -- Elliott Schuchardt, a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly, says that the United States needs to prepare for a drop in the value of the dollar.

       Schuchardt points to data showing that foreign countries are selling their holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds, and purchasing gold instead.    

       According to the latest report from the U.S. Treasury, Canada sold 10% of its U.S. Treasury holdings in October.  Canada's holdings dropped from $476 billion to $419 billion -- in just one month.  

       China also continued to sell U.S. Treasuries.  China's holdings of the bonds fell from $700.5 billion, in September, to $689 billion in October.  

       Schuchardt says that Tennessee needs to prepare for a possible drop in the value of the dollar.  He points to the efforts of the new BRICS alliance, to replace the U.S. dollar for world trade.  BRICS is an alliance of nations that makes up more than half of the world's population.  The alliance controls 42% of global oil production, and more than 44% of the planet's production of grains, such as wheat and rice.  

       Schuchardt says that BRICS could choose to replace the dollar for the world commodities markets.  When this happens, he says, the dollar could drop by 50%.  This could double the price of goods imported into the United States.  

       Schuchardt says that Tennessee needs to prepare for this foreseeable crisis.  Tennessee needs to work with the federal government to ensure that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is filled.  We also need to secure our supply chains for essential products, such as food and clothing.  

                                                                           *   *   *

       Schuchardt is the author of America's Achilles Heel:  How to Protect Your Family When America Loses the Reserve Currency.  He is a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly in the August 2026 primary.  

CONTACT:

Elliott J. Schuchardt
2322 Jockey Run Trail
Knoxville, TN 37920
Call or Text: (865) 304-4374
E-mail:                     elliott016@gmail.com
Campaign website:   www.elect-schuchardt.com/ 
Twitter or X:              https://x.com/EJSchuchardt
Book Website:          www.elliott-author.com

                                                                        #  #  #

    

Tennessee Candidate Challenges State Election Law for Judges

  NEWS RELEASE

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

     Knoxville, Tennessee – December 15, 2025 – Elliott Schuchardt, a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly, is calling for reform of the state’s law for election of judges.

       In Tennessee, to be qualified to run as a judge, a candidate must be authorized to practice law in the state of Tennessee.

     Schuchardt has filed a lawsuit that challenges the state’s requirement that judicial candidates be lawyers. 

      Schuchardt says that Tennessee does not use due process in deciding who can practice law in the state.  According to the complaint, the Tennessee Supreme Court has held that it can suspend a lawyer’s license without considering any evidence against the lawyer.  Schuchardt says that this system is arbitrary, and is being used for political purposes.  

      Schuchardt has a list of more than fifty candidates attacked by the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, in recent years.  Many of these people were running against sitting judges.  Others were running for higher office.  According to Schuchardt, there is an appearance that the Board is filing cases against lawyers to disqualify them from office. 

     The Board has filed ethics cases against two candidates for President of the United States, two candidates for governor of Tennessee, a former clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court, and two presidents of their county bar associations.  “These are the kind of people that we would want to run for office,” he says.  “However, the Tennessee ethics board is working to keep them off the ballot," he says.  

      The Tennessee ethics board has also filed ethics cases against a number of prominent African-American attorneys.  For example, in 2024, the Board publicly censured the president of the Nashville chapter of the NAACP, Sheryl D. Guinn.  Guinn twice ran for office as General Sessions Judge in Davidson County, Tennessee.  The board has also attacked the law license of African-American candidate, Terry Renease Clayton.  In 2015, Clayton was a candidate for the Nashville City Council.  Since then, he has twice run for the office of State Representative. 

      According to Schuchardt, nearly a dozen attorneys have sued the Board or its employees, alleging harassment for political reasons.  For example, attorney David Danner alleged that the Board retaliated against his license to practice law, after he published an opinion in the Nashville City Paper criticizing the state's system for selecting judges.  Attorney Carol Dawn Deaner claimed the Board retaliated against her law license, after she criticized Tennessee's system for selecting court-appointed counsel.  

     Schuchardt’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, says that Schuchardt has been a victim of political misconduct at the board.  The complaint says that the chief lawyer at the board – Sandra Garrett -- has filed seven petitions against Schuchardt, to interfere with Schuchardt’s representation of a lawsuit against a group of court insiders. The complaint alleges that Garrett is using her state office to interfere with Schuchardt’s constitutional right to due process.  According to Schuchardt, the Tennessee Supreme Court has refused to allow him to present evidence, in connection with the board’s attacks on his license and reputation. 

     Schuchardt has asked the federal court in Nashville to find Tennessee’s election law for judges to be unconstitutional, given the lack of due process in the state’s ethics law.   Schuchardt points to numerous problems with the ethics law.  Under existing law, he says, the state is permitted to choose the fact-finder from members of its own organization.  "It is impossible," he says, "to get a fair trial in an ethics case when your adversary gets to appoint the trial court judge."  Schuchardt says that the fact finder should be an elected judge, or a panel of persons who are not affiliated with the system.  

       According to Schuchardt, there is a precedent for this type of system.  In the early 1970s, there were complaints that the Knox County Sheriff's Office was firing people for political reasons.  Knox County, Tennessee adopted a system to review employment-related decisions.  Today, the Knox County Merits Board is made up entirely of persons who are not affiliated with the sheriff's office.  "We need a similar system for looking at lawyer ethics cases in Tennessee," he says.  "If a majority of the persons on a hearing panel were non-lawyers," he says, "then we would get better decisions from the panels."  

     Schuchardt also objects to the state's "fee-shifting" rule, in ethics cases.  Tennessee has a rule that requires an attorney to pay the state's legal fees, in an ethics case.  According to Schuchardt, this can result in a judgment of tens of thousands of dollars, against the defending attorney.  "The existing law is not fair," he says.  "It is designed to discourage lawyers from defending their law license, against court insiders," he argues.  "If we want the facts to come out, then we should not penalize attorneys for presenting the evidence," he says.   

*  *  *

     Elliott J. Schuchardt is a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly in the August 2026 election.  Schuchardt is the author of America’s Achilles Heel:  How to Protect Your Family When America Loses the Reserve Currency. 

    Schuchardt studied government at Cornell University and Oxford University.  He is also a graduate of Columbia Law School.  Schuchardt practiced law for nearly thirty years, before running for office.  He focused his legal practice on civil liberties issues in the courts.   

 

CONTACT:

Elliott J. Schuchardt

2322 Jockey Run Trail

Knoxville, TN 37920

Call or Text: (865) 304-4374

E-mail:                  elliott016@gmail.com

Twitter or X:         https://x.com/EJSchuchardt

Book Website:      www.elliott-author.com

Campaign Blog:    https//elliottschuchardt.blogspot.com

#  #  #

 

Tennessee Resident Plans Legislative Run With Focus on the Dollar Crisis

Knoxville, Tennessee – December 12, 2025 -- Elliott Schuchardt, a retired lawyer, is preparing a run for the Tennessee General Assembly in the August 2026 primary. His campaign centers on an unconventional platform:  warning about what he sees as an impending collapse of the U.S. dollar's reserve currency status.

Schuchardt's legal career includes some high-profile wins. He sued the federal government to enforce Fourth Amendment protections, in a case alleging the illegal collection of e-mail. He also secured the injunction that kept Sweet Briar College open when the Virginia liberal arts school attempted to close in 2015. The college's rescue became a national story about alumni activism and institutional preservation.

But it's his economic concerns that define his political campaign for the Tennessee legislature. Schuchardt authored "America's Achilles Heel: How to Protect Your Family When America Loses the Reserve Currency," a book that outlines his theories about American economic vulnerability. The premise is stark: the dollar's global dominance is fragile, and families need to prepare for its decline.

From Courtroom to Campaign Trail

Before attending Columbia Law School, Schuchardt studied political theory at Oxford University, in England. Schuchardt brings an academic framework to his views on the economy. His approach is openly preventive rather than reactive. He is trying to address what he considers a foreseeable crisis before it arrives.

Schuchardt argues that the United States will have to devalue the dollar to remain competitive in the world's economy. He says that this can, and should be done, in a structured manner, with the cooperation of other world powers. He says that if the United States fails to address the dollar issue, the rest of the world will address the issue for the United States, potentially causing an uncontrolled drop in the value of the dollar.

For Tennessee voters accustomed to traditional campaign platforms focused on taxes, education, and healthcare, Schuchardt's focus on monetary policy and reserve currency status represents a departure. He's positioning himself as someone willing to think outside conventional political boundaries.

A Screenplay as Political Warning

Schuchardt has taken his concerns beyond books and the political campaign by writing a screenplay that dramatizes an 80% dollar collapse. He's actively seeking investors to produce the film, which he envisions as a modern warning comparable to Cold War-era cautionary films like "On the Beach," "Dr. Strangelove," and "The Day After."

Those films used dramatic storytelling to make abstract nuclear threats feel immediate and real to American audiences. Schuchardt is attempting something similar with economic catastrophe, trying to make monetary policy emotionally resonant through narrative.

Whether Tennessee voters will embrace a candidate focused on the reserve currency remains to be seen. The August 2026 primary is still well ahead, giving Schuchardt time to make his case. His background in constitutional law and his willingness to challenge government power could resonate in a state with strong libertarian and conservative currents.

For now, Schuchardt's bid for the Tennessee General Assembly represents a test of whether voters are willing to embrace a proactive approach on the dollar. Schuchardt believes the answer is yes. The United States voted for tariffs in 2024, as a means to protect the economy. He believes the nation is ready for the next step, in getting the economy on the right track.

For further information: 

 

Elect Elliott Schuchardt

2322 Jockey Run Trail

Knoxville, TN 37920

Phone:  (865) 304-4374

E-mail:  elliott016@gmail.com

 

Campaign website:  www.elect-schuchardt.com

Campaign blog:  www.elliottschuchardt.blogspot.com

Twitter:  https://x.com/EJSchuchardt

Book website:  www.elliott-author.com

 

 

Schuchardt calls for an elected attorney general in Tennessee

    NEWS RELEASE

                               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

            Knoxville, Tennessee – December 3, 2025 – Elliott Schuchardt, a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly, says that Tennessee should elect its attorney general, rather than appoint the position.  This would be a change in the law.

            Tennessee uses a unique method for choosing the state’s attorney general.  The state Supreme Court chooses the attorney general for an eight-year term. 

            Tennessee is the only state in the United States that selects its attorney general in this manner.  Virtually all other states have their voters select the state attorney general, by means of an election.  In five states, the governor selects the attorney general.  In one state – Maine – the attorney general is selected by the state legislature. 

            Schuchardt contends that the Tennessee system is ripe for abuse.  According to Schuchardt, the Tennessee system centralizes too much power in Tennessee.  “We have too many un-elected positions in the state,” he says.  Schuchardt points out that the members of the state Supreme Court are chosen by the governor, from a list chosen by a nominating committee.  As a result, he says, “the governor has significant control over both the courts and the attorney general’s office.”  There are few checks and balances over large portions of the Tennessee government, as a result of the system.    

            Schuchardt says that Tennessee’s form of government is typical of Latin America, where one person in the government has control over both the executive branch and the courts.  “We need an attorney general who will stand up for the people, rather than one who will always defend state insiders,” he says.  In addition, he says, “we need to open up this position to others who want to run for office.”  Schuchardt says that he is interested in running for the position, if it becomes an elected position in the future. 

            Schuchardt has filed a lawsuit against a government employee at the state’s Board of Professional Responsibility.  In that lawsuit, Schuchardt alleges that the state ethics Board is filing cases against political candidates in Tennessee.  Schuchardt has a list of more than fifty candidates attacked by the Board, in recent years.  According to the complaint, the Board has filed ethics cases against two candidates for President of the United States, two candidates for governor of Tennessee, a former clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court, and two presidents of their county bar associations.  Schuchardt is seeking the assistance of the attorney general in the case.  

*  *  *

            Elliott J. Schuchardt is a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly in the 2026 election.  Schuchardt is the author of America’s Achilles Heel:  How to Protect Your Family When America Loses the Reserve Currency. 

            Schuchardt is a graduate of Cornell University and Columbia Law School.  Schuchardt practiced law for nearly thirty years, before running for office.  He focused his legal practice on civil liberties issues in the courts.   

CONTACT:

Elliott J. Schuchardt

2322 Jockey Run Trail

Knoxville, TN 37920

Call or Text: (865) 304-4374

E-mail:  elliott016@gmail.com

 

Campaign website:  https://www.elect-schuchardt.com/

Book website:         https://elliott-author.com

Twitter:                    https://x.com/EJSchuchardt

Book on Amazon:   Amazon link

 

  #  #  #