Ohio

An incumbent justice seeking reelection denied violating canons of judicial ethics in response to a charge by his opponent that he accepted a campaign contribution from a party whose case he heard. Republican Justice Robert Cupp said that he does not monitor who his contributors are and his campaign committee does not monitor his docket.

A thirteen-member judicial commission overturned a lower disciplinary panel that issued a cease-and-desist order against a Democratic supreme court candidate and former court of appeals judge, who identified himself as a judge several times in a campaign brochure. According to the commission, the statements were misleading but not false under the state’s code of judicial conduct.

A Democratic Party committee chose a state senator to run against Justice Terrence O’Donnell in November, following the previous candidate’s withdrawal from the race in April due to lack of campaign funds.

The lone Democrat on the supreme court defended her colleagues against attacks from her Republican challenger. Justice Yvette McGee Brown rejected the claim that the justice legislate from the bench and described herself as proud to serve on the court.

The state bar association gave a supreme court candidate a “not recommended” rating for the first time since 1998, indicating that less than sixty percent of bar members gave her a favorable evaluation. Three supreme court seats are up for election this year, with one incumbent justice running unopposed.

Following Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton’s announcement that she will retire in December with two years remaining in her term, the editorial board of the Cleveland Plain Dealer called for Governor Kasich to use a committee to screen and recommend qualified candidates for appointment to her seat. Such committees are used to fill mid-term vacancies in eleven states that elect their judges.

Two Democratic legislators sponsored a bill to establish public financing for supreme court elections.

Voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75.

The late Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who served on the O'Connor Advisory Committee and was a recipient of the Transparent Courthouse® Award, is now being honored by the Ohio Supreme Court, which is naming the Ohio Judicial Center after the second-longest serving justice in Ohio's history.

Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor's one-minute video on the supreme court's website urging a “yes” vote on Issue 1 in the November election met with some criticism. Issue 1 would raise the retirement age for state judges from 70 to 76.