Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor
Ohio Ballot Board approves anti-gerrymandering amendment. Proposal to go forward
Activists who hope to pass an anti-gerrymandering amendment to the Ohio Constitution can now begin gathering the nearly half-million signatures on the need to get the measure on the November 2024 ballot after the amendment was approved as a single issue by the Ohio Ballot Board Thursday. Without much ceremony, the board unanimously agreed that […]
After two rejections, is Ohio attorney general slow-walking anti-gerrymandering amendment?
One might think that a movement associated with a former state Supreme Court chief justice could draft a petition summary that passes legal muster. But twice already, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has rejected summaries of a petition to put an anti-gerrymandering amendment on Ohio’s November 2024 ballot. So far, nobody’s explicitly accusing Yost of […]
Former U.S. attorney general warns of Ohio legislative attempts to cut court power
Some state legislatures are working to diminish the power of courts, imperiling the American system of checks and balances, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote Tuesday. He used Ohio as exhibit A. Holder, attorney general under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015, warned of an “alarming pattern” in an op-ed published by the […]
State Supreme Court dismisses congressional redistricting cases
The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed two cases over congressional districts in Ohio. The decision isn’t a complete surprise because the groups filing the complaints asked for the dismissals earlier this week. But struggles over partisan gerrymandering in Ohio and elsewhere are far from over. The complainants continue to maintain that Ohio’s congressional districts […]
Poll: majority of GOP lawmakers want to cut voter access to Ohio Constitution
A majority of Ohio’s Republican lawmakers want to make it harder for voters to amend the state Constitution. But significantly fewer think it’s something Ohioans would support at the polls, according to a Gongwer-Werth poll published on Friday. Some Ohio House Republicans — and Secretary of State Frank LaRose — are reviving a measure that […]
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice wants legacy with judiciary, not with party
As Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor takes her leave from the state’s top court position, she takes with her a fierce loyalty to an independent judiciary and fervent belief that she couldn’t have done the job alone. What she’s boxing up with the trash is any desire for partisanship or politics. “You don’t […]
LaRose wants to make it harder for voters to amend constitution but evidence of a problem is lacking
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose denied that he wanted to block abortion protections or anti-gerrymandering measures when he announced that he wanted to hustle through a measure that would make it harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution. But he’s failed to point to a single amendment in the Constitution as an example […]
Ohio chief justice: ‘We do not have a Constitution that will end gerrymandering’
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said she plans to become a part of the anti-gerrymandering effort once she leaves office at the end of the year. In committing to her next steps after the her term-limited time as the head of the state’s highest court, she also acknowledged the failures that happened in […]
DeWine once said he’d let the courts decide. Now, maybe not so much
Just after he signed a bill dramatically restricting abortion on April 11, 2019, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine expressed great respect for the courts and the rule of law. But more than three years later — in a case involving Republican gerrymandering — DeWine’s staff seems to be saying he doesn’t have to listen to the […]
Ohio Supreme Court chief justice hears last oral arguments
With term limits signaling the end of her tenure as Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O’Connor took time on Tuesday to reflect. “The Ohio Constitution is telling me it’s time to do something new,” O’Connor said. O’Connor and the rest of the supreme court justices heard arguments in three cases on Tuesday, […]
LaRose would ‘be fine with’ chief justice’s impeachment over redistricting rulings
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Friday said he “certainly wouldn’t oppose it” if the legislature impeached Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor over her joining in rulings rejecting GOP-generated maps for Congress and the legislature, according to a recording of a breakfast meeting with Union County Republicans. LaRose, who is not a […]
Ohio Supreme Court justices Kennedy and DeWine undermining judiciary with redistricting partisanship
Justice is supposed to be blind. But not in Ohio. Not when a pair of Ohio Supreme Court justices dropped all pretense of impartiality and objectivity in the super high stakes redistricting cases before the court that have utterly upended Ohio politics. Justice Sharon Kennedy and Justice Pat DeWine effectively removed their metaphorical blindfolds to […]