She chose the one with a glaring conflict. Once again in this example, Kennedy had dozens of qualified, respectable judges without conflicts from whom to choose.

Now part of a 4-3 reactionary right-wing majority on the Ohio Supreme Court, before Deters’ appointment, he was named in a lawsuit brought against the state’s extremist abortion ban that wreaked havoc on Ohioans’ lives for months and forced a 10-year-old rape survivor to flee the state for abortion care.ĭeters thus recused himself from the case, but for his replacement Chief Justice Kennedy failed miserably in the new court’s first true test of legitimacy by selecting 12th District Court of Appeals Judge Matthew Byrne, who has served on an advisory board for an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center. DeWine’s son, Justice Pat DeWine and has zero judicial experience: Joe Deters. With hundreds of qualified, respectable judges that DeWine could have selected to fill the vacancy, DeWine instead chose to appoint a decades-long family friend who has expressed extremist positions as Hamilton County prosecutor seems to have done an eye-popping favor at an extremely sensitive time for Gov. Official photo from Vivien McClain Photography. In November, Republican Justice Sharon Kennedy was elected to replace O’Connor as chief justice, leaving Kennedy’s open justice seat to be filled by Ohio Republican Gov. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy. O’Connor and the three Democratic justices on the court ruled Ohio’s gerrymandered Statehouse and Congressional district maps unconstitutional seven times before they were nevertheless forced upon voters last November.

Ohioans concerned about corruption in Ohio’s legislature and executive offices won’t find much comfort looking to the Ohio Supreme Court, which has now also been infected by favoritism for DeWine family friends and anti-abortion special interests.Īt the end of last year, Ohio Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor was forced to retire due to age after playing the role of swing vote in a divided court on the issue of illegal gerrymandering.

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