Tennessee joined five other states to in support of the Regional Opioid Initiative (RJOI), which has developed an action plan with strategies to combat the growing opioid epidemic. The initiative is the result of a Regional Judicial Opioid Summit held in August of 2016, which brought together multi-disciplinary representatives from across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. RJOI stakeholders are comprised of chief justices, judges, legislators, behavioral health treatment providers, medical experts, prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) managers, regulatory agencies, child welfare representatives and others.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia Clark, Sharon G. Lee and Holly Kirby served on a panel as part of the Southeast Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women's (SETLAW) Ladies of Justice "Lunch and Learn" event at the Hamilton County Criminal Courthouse in Chattanooga. The panel was moderated by SETLAW President Sara McManus of Baker Donelson. The justices spoke about how they decided to become lawyers, who their mentors were, the career challenges they have faced and their advice for other women. 

The Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed James Hawkins’ premeditated murder conviction and sentence of death for the 2008 murder of Charlene Gaither, Hawkins’s long-term girlfriend and the mother of his children. Proof at trial showed that Hawkins had murdered Gaither because she threatened to expose his sexual abuse of their daughter. The Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his convictions and the jury's death sentence. Upon its automatic review of the case, the Supreme Court ruled that, although Hawkins was illegally seized without a warrant, the admission into evidence of the statement he gave while illegally held was harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt, and any impropriety had not deprived Hawkins of a fair trial. Justice Cornelia Clark wrote the majority opinion, while Justice Sharon Lee authored a concurring opinion.