OH Judicial Branch

Ohio  Courts

Summary

The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, each serving six-year terms and a total of 1550 other employees. Since 2004, the court has met in the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center (formerly known as the Ohio Departments Building) on the east bank of the Scioto River in Downtown Columbus. Prior to 2004, the court met in the James A. Rhodes State Office Tower and earlier in the Judiciary Annex (now the Senate Building) of the Ohio Statehouse.

The Ohio Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary is established and authorized within Article IV of the Ohio Constitution.

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News

Supreme Court: Presence of drugs in body doesn’t equal possession
Ohio Capital Journal, Susan TebbenOctober 1, 2021

The state’s highest court found that a woman can’t be charged with possession of drugs in Seneca County just because she and her newborn had drugs in their systems.

The Ohio Supreme Court took up the case after Kelly Foreman appealed her conviction on felony drug possession charges, which he was charged with after giving birth in March 2018.

According to court documents, the baby “exhibited symptoms of neonatal-abstinence syndrome” and urine and umbilical cord tissue tests showed the presence of cocaine.

While Foreman admitted to using drugs while pregnant, she said she hadn’t used any drugs in her Seneca County home, and court records showed she was not “in actual or constructive control of any drugs in Seneca County.”

A Third District Court of Appeals said because the drug tests had happened in the county, they determined the venue for the criminal charges.

The ACLU previously argued the case would have far-reaching implications for drug cases in the state, making it possible to be charged with possession for “simply being in Ohio.”

In the state supreme court opinion, the justices acknowledged that “possession” in terms of holding a drug in the bloodstream or urine has not been addressed by the court before. But they said other courts have seen similar cases, and held that the presence of a controlled substance in someone’s blood or urine “does not establish that the person possessed the controlled substance.”

“The reason underlying those conclusions is that when a controlled substance is assimilated into a person’s body, the person loses the ability to control or possess the substance,” Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor wrote in the ruling.

Because Foreman no longer had control of the substance, the high court found that tests proving the presence of cocaine were “insufficient to prove that she possessed cocaine in Seneca County.”

O’Connor also said the court found the prosecution’s side of the case “rather troubling” for the same reasons the ACLU took issue with the conviction in the case.

The court opinion said the argument that possession could be established through urine or umbilical cord testing leads to the possibility that a person could be charged with possession anywhere they test positive in the state, no matter where the drugs were when they were taken.

“For instance,” O’Connor wrote. “Consider a person who ingests cocaine in Ashtabula County and then drives sober to Hamilton County a few days later. By the state’s reasoning, that person could be charged with possession of cocaine in each and every county through which that person traveled, based on the sole fact that some assimilated form of cocaine remained in his system.”

The justices were unanimous in reversing the appeals court decision and vacating Foreman’s conviction in the case.

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Wikipedia

The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center in Columbus

The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, who are elected at large by the voters of Ohio for six-year terms. The court has a total of 1,550 other employees. Since 2004, the court has met in the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center (formerly known as the Ohio Departments Building) on the east bank of the Scioto River in Downtown Columbus. Prior to 2004, the court met in the James A. Rhodes State Office Tower and earlier in the Judiciary Annex (now the Senate Building) of the Ohio Statehouse.

The Ohio Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary is established and authorized within Article IV of the Ohio Constitution.

History

The Supreme Court of Ohio was founded in 1802, established in the state constitution as a three-member court, holding courts in each county every year. The constitution was approved that year, one year before statehood. In 1823, the state legislature ordered the court to meet annually in Columbus. It was located in the Ohio Statehouse beginning in 1857, and moved into the Statehouse Annex in 1901. The first female justice on the court was Florence E. Allen who served from 1923 to 1934. In 1974, the court moved from the annex building to the Rhodes State Office Tower. It moved to the Ohio Judicial Center in 2004.[1]

Important cases

In Berkheimer v. REKM (25 July 2024) the Supreme Court of Ohio four Republican jurists found that “ A diner reading “boneless wings” on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating “chicken  fingers” would  know that he had not been served fingers.”

In dissent three Democratic jurists called this “utter jabberwocky”. Further positing that “read the word “boneless,” they think that it means “without bones,” as do all sensible people.”

In DeRolph v. State (1997) the Supreme Court of Ohio found that Ohio's method of funding its schools was unconstitutional. The case originated in the Perry County Schools.

In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Supreme Court of Ohio, and found that evidence seized unlawfully without a search warrant cannot be used in criminal prosecutions.

Justices

All the seats on the court are elected at large by the voters of Ohio. Every two years, two of the associate justice seats are up for election to a six-year term. For one of those three elections in a six-year cycle, the chief justice's seat is also up for election. In order to run for a seat on the court, a person must be admitted to the bar in Ohio, and have practiced as a lawyer or served as a judge for at least six years.[2] There is an age limit: 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. Justice Francis E. Sweeney, Sr., was barred by this rule from running for re-election in 2004, as was Justice Terrence O'Donnell in 2018 and as Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor was in 2022. However, a judge who reaches the age of 70 after being elected is not prevented from completing her or his term in office.

The Governor of Ohio may appoint a Justice to the Court when there is a vacancy.

Until June 2021, judicial elections were non-partisan. This meant that parties nominated candidates in primary elections, but party designations for the candidates were not permitted on the general election ballot. Candidates and judges are also restricted in making public political statements. In response to the 2020 election of Democrat Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Republicans passed a law making general elections partisan, one of seven states to elect justices with party labels on the ballot.[3] The Ohio Judicial Conference and Ohio Courts of Appeals Judges opposed the change, saying the judiciary should be independent of parties.[3]

From the seating of Robert R. Cupp in 2007 to replace Democrat Alice Robie Resnick until the 2010 appointment of Eric Brown as chief justice, the court consisted entirely of Republicans who had been nominated through the primary process and won the general election, or who were appointed to an open seat by a Republican governor. This occurred once again in 2018 when Republican Mary DeGenaro was appointed to fill the seat vacated by the lone Democrat on the court, Bill O'Neill. Democrats once again joined the court in 2019 with the election of Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart in November 2018. In the court's history, there have been four instances where the female justices have outnumbered the male justices. The first occurred from January to May 2003, the second time occurred in 2005 and 2006, the third time occurred between January 2011 and January 2017, and the fourth time occurred between January 2018 and December 2022.

JusticeBornJoinedTerm endsMandatory retirementParty affiliationLaw school
Sharon L. Kennedy, Chief Justice (1962-03-15) March 15, 1962 (age 62)December 7, 2012[a]December 31, 20282032RepublicanCincinnati
Patrick F. Fischer (1957-12-30) December 30, 1957 (age 66)January 1, 2017December 31, 20282028RepublicanHarvard
Pat DeWine (1968-02-22) February 22, 1968 (age 56)January 2, 2017January 1, 20292038RepublicanMichigan
Michael P. Donnelly (1966-08-30) August 30, 1966 (age 57)January 1, 2019December 31, 20242036DemocraticCleveland State
Melody J. Stewart (1962-02-19) February 19, 1962 (age 62)January 2, 2019January 1, 20252032DemocraticCleveland State
Jennifer Brunner (1957-02-05) February 5, 1957 (age 67)January 2, 2021January 1, 20272027DemocraticCapital
Joe Deters (1957-04-04) April 4, 1957 (age 67)January 7, 2023December 31, 20242027RepublicanCincinnati
  1. ^ Took office as Chief Justice on January 1, 2023 after being elected in a partisan election.

Compensation

As of 2018, the chief justice receives $174,700 per year and associate justices $164,000 per year.[4]

Disciplinary Counsel

The Ohio Supreme Court Disciplinary Counsel investigates Ohio judges and attorneys in order to protect the public. The Ohio Supreme Court announced through its website the dismissal of the former Disciplinary Counsel on August 29, 2013. Currently, Joseph Caligiuri is the Disciplinary Counsel and his office investigates grievances.

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Ohio Judicial Center" (PDF). The Supreme Court of Ohio. The Supreme Court of Ohio Office of Public Information. November 2008. pp. 6–7. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  2. ^ Ohio Revised Code § 2503.01
  3. ^ a b Borchardt, Jackie. "Gov. Mike DeWine signs bill creating partisan races for state's top court". The Enquirer. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  4. ^ "Judge's Salary Chart". www.supremecourt.ohio.gov. Retrieved July 19, 2018.

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