Governor Bill Haslam has named Appeals Judge Roger A. Page to fill a vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Page will join the state's highest court in mid-March, unless state lawmakers can resolve their differences on a confirmation process for judicial nominees before then.
A constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2014 granted the Legislature the power to reject the governor's nominees, but the House and Senate have so far been unable to agree on a mechanism to do so.
Haslam appointed 60-year-old Page to the Court of Appeals in 2011. He had previously served as a circuit judge serving Chester, Henderson and Madison counties in West Tennessee.
The vacancy was created by the retirement of Justice Gary Wade.
