Ohio Supreme Court

Your Voter Guide To Key 2020 Races In Ohio, Kentucky And Indiana

By WVXU Staff • Oct 26, 2020
voting
John Minchillo / AP

Across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, absentee ballots have been mailed, early voting is in place, and Nov. 3 – Election Day – is here. No matter how or when you fill out your ballot (though if voting by mail in Ohio, it needed to be postmarked by Nov. 2; and by Nov. 3 in Kentucky and Indiana) WVXU has everything Tri-Staters need to know about the candidates vying for your vote.

Ohio Supreme Court Candidates Square Off On Issues, Ethics

By • Oct 14, 2020

Way down at the bottom of the Ohio ballot are two important races – two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court. These are non-partisan races on the ballot, but there are differences between the Republican incumbents and their Democratic challengers.

Ohio Supreme Court Upholds State School Takeover Law

By • May 13, 2020

The Ohio Supreme Court has let stand the law that allows the state to take over failing school districts, starting with the Youngstown City Schools in 2015.

Ohio Supreme Court Says Voting Rights Amendment Will Be One Issue, Not Four

By • Apr 15, 2020

The Ohio Supreme Court has sided with a coalition that’s pushing a voting rights amendment for this fall’s ballot. The justices rejected a decision made by majority Republicans on the state ballot board to split the amendment into four parts.

Ohio Supreme Court Takes Historic Step And Hears Oral Arguments Remotely

By • Apr 8, 2020

The Ohio Supreme Court had a historic session on Tuesday – oral arguments were conducted remotely.

Chief Justice Launches Task Force On Bail In Ohio

By editor • Jan 24, 2019

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor has assembled a task force to examine how judges set bail for people charged with crimes. The group had its first meeting Wednesday.

O’Connor is asking the task force to look at how bail is set in other states and to talk about possible changes to Ohio’s rules.

Union Leader Says Ohio Supreme Court Played Politics With Kidney Dialysis Amendment Ruling

By • Aug 15, 2018

A union that intended to put a measure capping kidney dialysis costs on the Ohio ballot this fall says it isn’t giving up despite a ruling from the state’s top court saying that can’t happen this November. 

Ohio Supreme Court Ruling Tosses Kidney Dialysis Issue Off This Fall's Ballot

By • Aug 14, 2018

Ohioans won’t vote this fall on a ballot issue capping how much clinics can charge for kidney dialysis. The Ohio Supreme Court says signatures were gathered for the Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection Amendment without the proper paperwork.

Supreme Court Says State Can Withhold Funds To Traffic Camera Cities, But Ruling May Not Mean Much

By • Jun 21, 2018

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the state can cut funding to certain communities using traffic cameras. But the ruling may not have much of an effect.

Reds Make Pitch At Ohio Supreme Court Against Paying Taxes On Bobbleheads And Other Giveaways

By • Jun 14, 2018

When a sports fan goes to a game and gets a free promotional item like a bobblehead, does the team have to pay taxes on that freebie? That was the question before the Ohio Supreme Court.

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Cities Aren't Liable If Foliage Obscures Sign But Doesn't Block It Entirely

By • Jun 6, 2018

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a city can’t be sued if a driver’s view of a stop or other traffic control sign is blocked by shrubs or plants, unless they’re actually growing on the sign.

Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality Of State's Death Penalty

By • Apr 19, 2018

The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of Ohio’s death penalty law.

Monday Politics Chat: What Is Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill Thinking?

By • Dec 11, 2017
WVXU-FM

WVXU politics reporter Howard Wilkinson talked with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik Monday about Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill and his declared candidacy for Ohio governor. Can O'Neill continue to sit on the bench and be a partisan political candidate? Many are saying no, but O'Neill, the only Democrat on the court, says he won't resign until Jan. 26. 

Ohio Supreme Court Blocks King Records Demolition

By • Nov 10, 2016

The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to consider a demolition permit sought by owners of the King Records building in Evanston.

Tracie Hunter May Start Serving Jail Term Friday After Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Appeal

By • May 18, 2016
Hamilton County Juvenile Court

Suspended juvenile court judge Tracie Hunter could begin serving her six-month jail sentence as soon as Friday, now that an Ohio Supreme Court majority has refused to hear her appeal.

Hunter is scheduled to appear before Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Dinkelacker Friday morning for imposition of her sentence.

The vote in the Ohio Supreme Court had four justices voting against hearing her appeal and three who dissented.

DeWine, Fischer Endorsed By State GOP For Ohio Supreme Court

By • Sep 21, 2015

The Ohio Republican Party has endorsed two Hamilton County judges – Patrick DeWine and Patrick Fischer – for two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court that will be open next year.

Fischer and DeWine  - both members of the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals - will be running for the seats of incumbent Republicans Judith Ann Lanzinger and Paul Pfeifer, who can’t run for re-election because of Ohio’s judicial age limit law.

The Ohio Republican Party has also endorsed the court’s chief justice, Maureen O’Connor, for re-election.

Critics Of Charter Schools Say Ohio Supreme Court Ruling Raises Political Questions

By • Sep 17, 2015

The Ohio Supreme Court decision that nearly a hundred million dollars in equipment bought by charter school operators with tax money belongs to those operators and not to the schools has raised more anger against the industry.

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Against Charter Schools in White Hat case

By • Sep 16, 2015

The Ohio Supreme Court has sided with a controversial charter school operator in a very narrow decision.

The case involved 10 Cleveland-area charter schools that contracted with White Hat Management to operate them.

Exonerated death row inmates want changes to death penalty system

By • Apr 15, 2015
Karen Kasler / Ohio Public Radio

Six of the nine Ohioans who were exonerated after being sentenced to death want state lawmakers to consider changes to capital punishment in Ohio.

Joe D’Ambrosio spent 22 years on death row for a Cleveland murder he didn’t commit.

“If it can happen to me, it can happen to you, or your children, or your grandchildren,” D’Ambrosio said.

He and five other exonerated former death row inmates want state lawmakers to seriously consider the 57 recommendations made by an Ohio Supreme Court task force on capital punishment last year.

Attorney and professor Wendy Calaway talks about her recent victory in the Ohio Supreme Court

By Mark Heyne • Apr 6, 2015

  A professor from University of Cincinnati Blue Ash took an appeal in a murder trial all the way to Ohio Supreme Court, and won. Wendy Calaway is a practicing attorney and a professor in the Behavioral Science Department at UC Blue Ash, where she teaches criminal justice, criminology and corrections courses.

Ohio Supreme Court says Tracie Hunter won't be jailed during appeal

By • Dec 26, 2014
Hamilton County Juvenile Court

Suspended juvenile court judge Tracie Hunter will not have to report to jail Monday morning,  thanks to a ruling late Friday afternoon by the Ohio Supreme Court.

The court, on a 4-3, said Hunter could remain free on her own recognizance while her felony conviction on a felony count of unlawful interest in a public contract is under appeal.

Ohio Supreme Court--Year in Review

By • Dec 23, 2014

2014 brought several big cases to the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court, which delivered opinions that surprised some observers.

The Ohio Supreme Court ended the year by deciding one of the highest-profile cases of the year – ruling 4-3 that traffic camera programs are constitutional, and specifically that Toledo can allow appeals to go through an administrative hearing process and not municipal court. But Republican Sen. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati, the sponsor of a bill to regulate traffic cameras, says the ruling is basically moot.

Hunter suspended from practicing law

By Bill Rinehart • Oct 21, 2014
Ann Thompson / WVXU

Tracie Hunter has been suspended from practicing law in Ohio, following her conviction earlier this month.

Ohio Supreme Court to hear arguments on traffic cameras Wednesday

By • Jun 10, 2014

The Ohio Supreme Court will hear a big case on the red light and speed cameras that some 15 Ohio communities are using.

The issue is not whether setting up cameras to catch red light runners and speeders is legal. It’s about whether requiring appeals of traffic camera citations to be heard by administrative hearing officers instead of in municipal court is legal. That is how most cities across the country deal with appeals of traffic camera tickets.

Ohio Supreme Court issues long awaited ruling in JobsOhio case

By Jo Ingles (Ohio Public Radio) • Jun 10, 2014

The state’s highest court has ruled that ProgressOhio, a liberal policy group, and two Democratic lawmakers, do not have the right to sue over the constitutionality of JobsOhio.

"It's been a long, strange trip," said ProgressOhio’s Brian Rothenberg, who had sued on behalf of taxpayers.

The case has been tied up in court for more than a year. The ruling means the Ohio Supreme Court will not decide the issue of whether the legislature’s creation of JobsOhio was constitutional.

Ohio task force releases final Death Penalty report

By • May 21, 2014
wikipedia

Update: Committee issued it's final report today. You can read it here. Court News Ohio says: The report will now be reviewed by the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and by the president of the Ohio State Bar Association and is being made available to the members of the Ohio General Assembly and interested parties.

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May 7th:

Ohio Chief Justice talking about judicial election reform

By • Jan 10, 2014
Provided/Ohio Supreme Court

The Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court is continuing her statewide conversations about judicial election reform.  Maureen O'Connor spoke Friday to the Clermont County Chamber of Commerce in Eastgate. 

O'Connor said polling shows people like their local judges, but they think there are problems with the legal system.  She said it is important to have an impartial judiciary.

Hamilton County must change ballot language

By & • Oct 10, 2013

UPDATE:

Ohio's top court says Hamilton County must amend its ballot language on a Cincinnati charter amendment ahead of the November election.

The Supreme Court Thursday ruled the county must include omitted sections of the proposed amendment to reform the city's employee pension program.  The group Cincinnati for Pension Reform put the issue on the ballot but objected to the modified language adopted by the Board of Elections.

Chesley retires from practice of law in Ohio

By • Apr 19, 2013

Stanley M. Chesley, the famed class-action lawyer who was disbarred in Kentucky and faced the same fate in Ohio, gave the Ohio Supreme Court notice that he is "permanently retired" from the practice of law.

The Ohio Supreme Court's Office of Attorney Services told WVXU this morning that Chesley's retirement was effective Thursday.