sharon kennedy
Last year’s cash bail amendment from lawmakers put Ohio’s entire pretrial release system in jeopardy
The cash bail amendment last year brought by Ohio lawmakers and approved in November directing judges to weigh public safety when setting cash bail inadvertently undermined the state’s entire bail system. Effectively every legal interest — prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, the Ohio Bar Association, sheriffs, and the ACLU — agree on the proper course of […]
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 […]
Republicans take all three Ohio Supreme Court elections
Republicans appeared to be on their way to sweeping all three open seats on the Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday. The eventual Republican majority that's likely to create will have big implications in the state for years to come.
Ohio Supreme Court races will determine whether Republican gerrymandering gets rubber-stamped
What could be more bitterly ironic than Republican Ohio Supreme Court justices being elected in 2022 in reflection of the 54-46 differential of average Ohio voter patterns, and then that new partisan Republican court rubber-stamping gerrymandered Statehouse and Congressional districts that give the GOP undue supermajority advantages that far out-kick the same differential? That might […]
Analysis: Theory vs. reality. The Dobbs ruling and women’s health
When the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned abortion protections in Roe v Wade, the majority wrote that it’s up to the states to decide whether to allow abortions, restrict them or to ban them altogether. In other words, the six justices were saying that the U.S. Constitution gives no more protections to people who […]
3 Ohio justice candidates accused of breaking ethics, told PAC abortion isn’t Constitutional right
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Three Republican candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court are being accused by pro-choice advocates […]
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice candidates have very different backgrounds, ideologies, priorities
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. The Ohio Supreme Court sprung into the national spotlight during the now-going-on-one-year redistricting battle. […]
Healthy public debate is the essence of democracy
Most folks think of the Acropolis and the Parthenon when they think of the democracy of ancient Athens, but those were places of worship, which some do conflate with politics these days. It was on another hill, the Pnyx, where Athenian democracy grinded forward with all its inherent messiness. The Pynx was where, as early […]
Ohio Debate Commission announces gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and Chief Justice debates
The Ohio Debate Commission announced its plans Monday for the U.S. Senate, governor, and chief justice of the state supreme court races. The Democrats in all three contests plan to attend. The Republicans haven’t signed on yet. The commission’s schedule includes a gubernatorial debate Oct. 10 and a U.S. Senate debate Oct. 12. They plan […]
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 […]
Ohio Republicans throw temper tantrum as attempts to cheat with gerrymandering shot down
It takes a real dirtbag sensibility to claim the Ohio Supreme Court demanding districts in line with the Ohio Constitution voters overwhelmingly amended that actually represent Ohioans’ political preferences and still give your party a majority is somehow the real gerrymandering. Nevertheless, that’s what we’re seeing from many Ohio Republican Statehouse politicians confronted with the […]
Ohio Supreme Court: One incumbent looks to remain, another looks to be unseated
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy looks to have won reelection in unofficial results early Wednesday morning, while Justice Judith French looks headed for defeat by Democratic challenger Jennifer Brunner. If this result holds as is expected, Republican justices will hold a 4-3 advantage on the state high court. With Brunner’s win, Democrats add to […]