The Ohio Supreme Court has formally accepted an appeal by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in a case involving the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The court announced on Tuesday morning that it will only consider two of the three legal issues Yost asked the court to consider: whether he has the right to appeal a lower court’s decision to put the heartbeat law on hold and whether abortion clinics have “standing” or the legal authority to challenge the law in the first place.
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Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy assigned Matthew Byrne, a Twelfth District Court of Appeals judge, this week to preside over a state appeal of a preliminary injunction on Ohio’s abortion law.
Byrne takes over for newly appointed Ohio Justice Joe Deters, who recused himself after the abortion clinic plaintiffs argued that he couldn’t rule on the state’s heartbeat bill ban because he was an original defendant on the case when serving as Hamilton County Prosecutor.
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On Thursday, The Buckeye Institute filed a lawsuit against the city of Columbus to protect the rights of Ohioans to keep and bear arms.
The filing follows the adoption of Ordinance 3176-2022 by the Columbus City Council, which forbade the use of certain firearm magazines in violation of Ohio law and the U.S. and Ohio constitutions.
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Democratic leaders in Cincinnati have proposed two new ordinances for City Councils consideration that aim to extend gun restrictions in the city.
These ordinances come after a Fairfield County judge denied a request from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to block firearm regulations recently enacted by the city of Columbus.
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The Hamilton County Republican Party elected former Judge Russell Mock as its new chairman early on Thursday evening.
Green Township Trustee Triffon Callos, who has served as the temporary party chair for the previous month, said that Mock defeated former state representative Tom Brinkman at a closed-door meeting of the county party’s central committee at Clovernook County Club by a vote of 125 to 66.
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According to former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor , a group seeking to overhaul Ohio’s redistricting procedure plans to put a constitutional amendment before voters in November 2024.
Last year, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected maps produced by Ohio’s Redistricting Commission on numerous occasions. O’Connor sided with the Democrats in redistricting lawsuits despite the GOP holding a one-seat majority.
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Taking her ceremonial oath of office on Wednesday, Ohio’s new Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy promised “a new day” at the high court and could cast the deciding vote on crucial topics in the state like abortion and redistricting.
Kennedy, who becomes the second female justice to preside over the state’s highest court, said she didn’t initially picture the moment.
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Ohio’s plea for a preliminary injunction to stop the city of Columbus’ most recent gun control measures was denied by a court in Fairfield County. According to Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, the restrictions are now in place as of midnight on January 21st.
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Melissa Powers, a former juvenile court judge, has been chosen by the Hamilton County Republican Party to serve as the county’s next prosecutor.
The Hamilton County Republican Party’s central committee met late Thursday afternoon at Clovernook Country Club in North College Hill to choose Joe Deters’ successor after his appointment to the Ohio Supreme Court. Powers, who did not seek re-election to the juvenile court bench last year, received a resounding majority of the vote.
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Attorney General Dave Yost is requesting that the Ohio Supreme Court reinstates the heartbeat law as readily as possible, which blocks the majority of abortions once a fetal heartbeat is found.
In accordance with the 2019 Ohio law, doctors are not permitted to perform abortions once heart activity has been identified, or around six weeks into a pregnancy. The law went into effect the same day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24th, 2022.
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The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the city of Cleveland is not required to repay $4.1 million to drivers who improperly paid traffic-camera tickets between 2005 and 2009 due to the motorists paying the fines without contesting them.
A number of drivers who got traffic-camera tickets but did not own the cars they were driving filed a class-action suit in 2009, alleging that the city of Cleveland had unfairly retained the fine money from persons who drove leased, rented, or utilized a vehicle that belonged to their employers. The claimants requested refunds of $4,121,185.89 and an additional $1,842,563.51 in interest.
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Prospective attorneys in Ohio have to fill out a questionnaire, undergo a background check, and participate in an interview to ascertain if they meet the necessary ethical and moral standards to practice law in the state. After January 17th, 2023, Ohioans will no longer have to list a mental or psychological disorder on the questionnaire.
According to the changes to Rule I of the Rules for the Government of the Bar of Ohio, a person’s mental health would only be relevant as part of an application when there is conduct that could be detected during the investigation, such as a criminal offense, substance use issues, or financial irresponsibility.
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Now that Governor Mike DeWine appointed Republican Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters to fill a vacancy on the Ohio Supreme Court (OSC), his former long-time position as prosecutor will become vacant on January 7th, 2023, when he is sworn into the OSC.
Throughout his tenure, Deters has gained a reputation in a crucial office for being a “tough on crime” prosecutor, believing in strict punishments for violent crime, including the death penalty, bail reform boundaries, and policing in general.
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The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a state law capping the number of damages awarded for “pain and suffering” claims in a personal injury lawsuit applied to child sex abuse cases is unconstitutional.
A 4-3 decision from the Supreme Court ruled that youth victims who “suffer traumatic, extensive, and chronic psychological injury as a result of intentional criminal acts and who sue their abusers for civil damages,” should not have caps on “non-economic damages.”
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Governor Mike DeWine has appointed Republican Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters to fill a vacancy on the Ohio Supreme Court.
Deters will fill the seat that Justice Sharon Kennedy is vacating at the end of the year to replace Maureen O’Connor as Chief Justice. O’Connor is stepping down at the end of the year due to Ohio’s age limit for judges. One may not run for a seat on any Ohio court if one is more than 70 years of age. This limit often forces the retirement of long-time justices.
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Richland County Juvenile Court Judge Steve McKinley will meet Wednesday with Governor Mike DeWine’s chief legal counsel to discuss a vacancy on the Ohio Supreme Court.
According to McKinley, as an Ohio Supreme Court justice, he would define the state constitution “reasonably and in accordance with our tradition … protecting individual rights and the separation of powers.”
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A judge in Fairfield County granted Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s request for a temporary restraining order temporarily stopping Columbus’ new restrictive gun laws from going into effect for 14 days.
Judge Richard Berens issued the ruling Thursday morning, immediately enjoining the ordinances.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine plans to fill the seat on the Ohio Supreme Court by announcing his appointment by the end of the year.
DeWine said it’s critical for the new justice to be named by the end of the year so that they can start right away.
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A package of Republican-backed bills designed to crack down on municipalities that employ photo-monitoring devices to enforce traffic, received its first hearing before state lawmakers Tuesday at the Ohio House Transportation and Public Safety Committee.
State Representative Tom Patton (R-Strongsville) is a long time critic of traffic cameras. He says that traffic cameras are a scheme that funnels cash to camera-friendly towns and does little to protect Ohio’s roadways.
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The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday morning that revenue earned by NASCAR from selling the rights to broadcast stock car races and merchandise to Ohio fans is not subject to state business taxes.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court rejected the Ohio Tax Commissioner, Jeffrey McClain’s, order that NASCAR owes the state almost $550,000 for money earned from broadcasting races, online marketing, and sponsorship fees.
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The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a case on if Governor Mike DeWine had the authority to cut off an extra $300 per week in federal unemployment benefits.
Justices dismissed the case as “moot.” Without a court order requiring the federal government to keep these additional unemployment benefits, it was unclear if the money still existed.
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With the midterm election less than a week away Ohio voters are going to decide who they want in Congress, the governor’s mansion, and the Ohio Supreme Court and will vote on two major ballot issues.
With the large ballot at hand here is a breakdown of who is running for election and what position they are running for.
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A nonunion school guidance counselor wants the Ohio Supreme Court to decide if she can hire her own lawyer for a grievance with her school system, rather than be forced to use union representation.
The court has not set a hearing date for Barbara Kolkowski, who sued the Ashtabula Area Teachers Association and asked the court to rule a union – which she is not a member of – cannot force her to accept union legal representation to arbitrate a workplace grievance.
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A Columbus-based think tank this week filed its legal response in the Ohio Supreme Court in defense of a Blue Ash man who believes the state cannot make him pay Cincinnati income taxes for a period of time he actually worked from home.
The Buckeye Institute argued that a state law passed in March 2020 to allow jurisdictions encompassing an “employee’s principal place of work” to levy taxes on that worker even when he or she works from home is unconstitutional. Specifically, the institute notes that the federal Constitution’s dormant commerce clause in Article I, Section 8 disallows states to enact statutes that “unduly burden interstate commerce.” Buckeye attorneys also believe the Ohio Constitution constrains lawmakers’ ability to broaden cities and towns’ tax-collection power.
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Public officials are not immune from picketing connected to a labor dispute at their homes or private workplaces after a divided Ohio Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited encouraging “targeted picketing.”
The law made organizing picketing at a private residence and business an unfair labor practice, but in a 4-3 decision the Supreme Court said that violated the First Amendment right of free speech.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Michael P. Donnelly, Melody Stewart and Jennifer Brunner all joined the majority.
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Ohio’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with Gibson’s Bakery in its libel case against Oberlin College, declining to hear the school’s appeal and permitting the family-owned establishment to collect over $36 million in damages.
The litigation against Oberlin and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo stemmed from uncorroborated accusations of racism that the Gibson family believes initially cost their store half its patronage. In June 2019, a Lorain County court ordered the school to pay the bakers $32 million. About $4.5 million in interest has accumulated since that ruling.
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Property owners in southern Ohio continue to receive support in their ongoing legal fight to keep the Ohio Power Company from taking land through eminent domain.
The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based policy group, filed an amicus brief with the Ohio Supreme Court in support of the landowners, who have been fighting the power company’s plan to take property for power lines.
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The Ohio law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, generally at six weeks’ gestation, will remain in effect while a lawsuit filed by abortion providers continues against it.
The law took effect after the state Supreme Court denied a request by abortion providers for an emergency stay on the legislation to allow abortions to continue while the lawsuit proceeds.
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned Parenthood, and a group of Ohio abortion facilities filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Ohio Supreme Court that seeks to overturn the state’s heartbeat law which began being enforced soon after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
The pro-abortion groups claim in the lawsuit Ohioans have a “fundamental right to abortion” under the Ohio Constitution, “as guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution’s broad protections for individual liberties under Article I, Sections 1, 16, and 21, and the equal protection guarantee under Article I, Section 2.”
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Ohio schools will receive $100 million in total to purchase security equipment as part of the next round of K-12 School Safety Grants, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) wrote to superintendents on Friday.
The allocations, which come as a part of the state’s capital budget bill that DeWine signed into law last week, will go toward purchases such as outdoor lighting, facility-mapping software, school-radio systems, door-locking technology and visitor-badge systems. The Ohio School Safety Center in Columbus is now drafting the application for schools to access this money and expects to soon start the application process.
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The Ohio Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the state’s municipal income tax code that allowed cities to levy taxes on workers who did not live or work in those communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The court agreed to hear The Buckeye Institute’s case of Schaad v. Adler, one of five the Columbus-based policy group filed relating municipal income tax collection.
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Calling a federal court’s order to implement state legislative district maps that were twice ruled unconstitutional a temporary solution, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose directed county boards of election to move forward with preparations for an Aug. 2 primary election.
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Calling the actions of Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission a “stunning rebuke of the rule of law,” the Ohio Supreme Court rejected for a fifth time a set of Ohio House and Senate district maps.
The decision came three days before a deadline set by federal judges, who said they would implement maps ruled unconstitutional if no new legal maps were created.
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A push to have Ohio judges consider public safety when setting bail took a step forward when the House Criminal Justice Committee advanced legislation supported by prosecutor and business groups across the state.
House Bill 607 adds the risk of public safety into bail consideration in direct response to an Ohio Supreme Court decision in Debuse v. McGuffey, a ruling that upheld an appellate court’s decision permitting the reduction of a murder suspect’s bail without considering community safety.
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Groups that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the third set of Ohio state legislative redistricting maps will likely challenge again after the Ohio Redistricting Commission resubmitted the previously thrown out maps.
The commission voted 4-3 late Thursday to send back its third attempt at Senate and House districts, even though the court had already ruled they unfairly favored Republicans. The Ohio Supreme Court had set a 9 a.m. Friday deadline for maps to be submitted.
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More than two weeks after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a fourth attempt at establishing Ohio legislative districts, the Ohio Redistricting Commission scheduled a meeting.
That meeting will come two days before the court’s deadline to submit a new set of maps.
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A federal court gave the Ohio Redistricting Commission until May 28 to draw state legislative redistricting maps that meet a court order, or it will implement a previously rejected map so the state can hold an Aug. 2 primary.
The three-judge panel, voting 2-1, said it would impose the commission’s third set of maps because the state had started preparing to use those maps before they were declared unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.
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Ohio election officials said the state could not hold its second primary any later than Aug. 2, despite an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that suggested the state could easily hold an election later in August or even September.
The Ohio Association of Election Officials said overseas and military ballots, along with other requirements for testing voting systems and proofing ballots, make Aug. 2 the last day to have a primary for state legislative offices if the same rules are to be met for the November general election.
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Justice Michael Donnelly was stronger in a concurring opinion.
“The independent map drawers’ efforts were apparently little more than a sideshow – yet more fodder in this political sport,” Donnelly wrote. “What appeared to be the start of a transparent redistricting process when the two independent map drawers were engaged by the commission became transparent only in the sense that it exposed the falsehood that some of the commission members had fulfilled their obligations under the Ohio Constitution. As to that, Ohioans are still watching and waiting.”
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose blasted a ruling from the Ohio Supreme Court, which blocked the state’s redistricting maps for the fourth time.
The ruling requires a new set of maps to be drawn and submitted to the Court and the Secretary of State’s office by May 6th.
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The Ohio Supreme Court struck down a fourth set of state legislative district maps Thursday, ordering the Ohio Redistricting Commission to develop and adopt an entirely new set of maps by May 6.
The ruling declared the fourth set of maps invalid in its entirety. The new plan must be filed with Secretary of State Frank LaRose by 9 a.m. May 6 and filed with the court by noon the same day.
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An Ohio lawmaker wants the Ohio Supreme Court to pay the potential $20 million price tag for a second primary election after it ruled three times legislative redistricting maps were unconstitutional.
Rep. Ron Ferguson, R-Jefferson, plans to introduce legislation to pull second primary election costs from the court’s budget, saying the Ohio Redistricting Commission worked in a bipartisan manner to develop new districts.
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The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a Democrat request to move the state primary to June, while independent map makers told the Ohio Redistricting Commission progress is slow creating a fourth set of state legislative districts.
The Supreme Court left the power to establish election dates and times in the hands of the General Assembly after Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, and House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, filed a motion last week to have the court set a new date.
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Two independent map makers could have a first draft of state legislative maps to the Ohio Redistricting Commission by Thursday night, a day after getting their instructions.
The commission faces a Monday deadline to have new maps on the desk of Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who must have the maps to the Ohio Supreme Court by 9 a.m. Tuesday.
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Ohio’s May 3 primary elections are in jeopardy after the state Supreme Court struck down state legislative maps for the third time.
The court ruled 4-3 late Wednesday night the maps unfairly favor Republicans, saying the Ohio Redistricting Commission has attempted three sets of maps without input from Democrats on any, instead using GOP staffers to draft each map.
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The GOP-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission has passed its third set of state legislative maps, a week after a court-ordered deadline and with one Republican objection.
The 4-3 commission vote means if the maps are approved by the Ohio Supreme Court, they last only four years rather than the traditional 10 that would have happened with bipartisan support on the commission.
Commission Co-Chair and House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, said the new maps, which were passed late Thursday, met all the constitutional requirements established when voters created the commission and twice when the court ruled previous maps were unfairly gerrymandered to benefit Republicans.
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The Ohio Supreme Court has given the Ohio Redistricting Commission until noon Wednesday to show cause why it should not be held in contempt of court for failing to meet a deadline for new state legislative maps.
The commission missed an 11:59 p.m. Feb. 17 court-ordered deadline to submit a third set of maps after the court ruled the first two were unfairly gerrymandered to favor Republicans.
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The Ohio Supreme Court again sided with the League of Women Voters and tossed out new state legislative district maps for a second time, saying Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission disregarded its initial ruling.
The court ruled, 4-3, the commission’s second attempt that preserved Republican majorities was unconstitutional and ordered the commission to adopt a new plan, saying if the commission would have used its time more wisely and been committed to working together to find a map that met court guidelines, it could have been accomplished.
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The Ohio Redistricting Commission wants the Ohio Supreme Court to allow a second round of state legislative district maps to stand at least through this year’s elections.
The request comes as part of the commission’s response to challenges to the new maps that were forced to be redrawn after the court ruled the original maps illegally favored Republicans.
The commission asked for a decision by Feb. 11 or stay the issue until after the 2022 general election, allowing the revised plan to stay in effect until then.
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Emergency legislation enacted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that changed the way municipal income taxes were handed out to cities is now in front of the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based policy group, originally filed suit in July 2020, challenging the state law that requires an employee to pay income taxes in the city where an employee works instead of where they live.
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