Supreme Court of Ohio

Ohio Supreme Court
Seal of the Supreme Court of Ohio
Established	1841
Jurisdiction	Ohio , United States
Location	Columbus, Ohio
Composition method	Semipartisan election
Authorized by	Ohio Constitution
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of the United States
Judge term length	6 Years
Number of positions	7
Website	Official Website
Chief Justice
Currently	Maureen O'Connor
Since	2003 (Associate Justice) 2011 (Chief Justice)
Lead position ends	2017
Jurist term ends	2017

The Ohio Judicial Center

The Supreme Court of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, each serving six-year terms. Since 2004, the court has met in the Ohio Judicial Center (formerly known as the Ohio Departments Building) on the east bank of the Scioto River in downtown Columbus. Prior to 2004, the court met in the James A. Rhodes State Office Tower and earlier in the Judiciary Annex (now the Senate Building) of the Ohio Statehouse.

The Ohio Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary is established and authorized within Article IV of the Ohio Constitution.

Justices

All the seats on the court are elected at large by the voters of Ohio. Every two years, two of the associate justice seats are up for election. For one of those three elections in a cycle, the chief justice's seat is up for election. In order to run for a seat on the court, a person must be admitted to the Bar in Ohio, and have practiced as a lawyer or served as a judge for at least six years.^[1] There is an age limit: One may not run for a seat on any Ohio court if one is more than 70 years of age. This limit often forces the retirement of long-time justices. Justice Francis E. Sweeney Sr. was barred by this rule from running for re-election in 2004. However, a judge who reaches the age of 70 is not prevented from completing his term in office.

The Governor of Ohio may appoint a Justice to the Court when there is a vacancy.

Officially, the judicial elections are non-partisan. However, in practical terms, all this means is that party designations for the candidates are left off the ballot and justices are restricted in making public political statements. Major and minor parties all nominate candidates for the court in their primary elections. The vast majority of justices have been nominated by the two major parties in Ohio, Democratic or Republican. Many of the individuals who have contested Supreme Court seats have also contested for explicitly partisan political offices, both state and federal.

From the election of Justice Robert R. Cupp in November 2006 to replace Democrat Alice Robie Resnick until the 2010 appointment of Eric Brown as Chief Justice, the Court was all Republican.

Justice	Born	Date Service Began	Term Ends	Mandatory Retirement
Maureen O'Connor (Chief Justice)	1951	Associate Justice-January 1, 2003 Chief Justice-January 1, 2011	December 31, 2017	2021
Paul E. Pfeifer	1942	January 2, 1993	December 31, 2017	2012*
Evelyn Lundberg Stratton	1953	March 7, 1996	December 31, 2014	2023
Terrence O'Donnell	1946	May 19, 2003	December 31, 2012	2016
Judith Ann Lanzinger	1946	January 1, 2005	December 31, 2017	2016*
Robert R. Cupp	1951	January 2, 2007	December 31, 2012	2021
Yvette McGee Brown	1960	January 1, 2011	December 31, 2012	2030

Asterisks (*) next to retirement date indicate that the justice will be permitted to complete their current term, but will be barred from running for reelection due to having exceeded the mandatory retirement age (70 years old).

• In the court's history, there have been three instances where the female justice have outnumbered the male justices. The first occurred from January to May 2003, when the female majority comprised Republicans Deborah L. Cook, Maureen O'Connor, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, and Democrat Alice Robie Resnick. The second time this occurred in 2005 and 2006. The third time was beginning in January 2011 under the current configuration of the court.

Important cases

In DeRolph v. State a case originating in the Perry County Schools it was decided that the state method of School Funding was unconstitutional.

Compensation

Name	Job description	Wages	Overtime	Year
Maureen O'Connor	judge	$148,258.00	$0.00	2010
Paul E. Pfeifer	judge	$146,624.00	$0.00	2010
Terrence O'Donnell	judge	$148,258.00	$0.00	2010
Evelyn Lundberg Stratton	judge	$146,624.00	$0.00	2010
Robert R. Cupp	judge	$148,258.00	$0.00	2010
Judith A. Lanzinger	judge	$148,258.00	$0.00	2010
Yvette McGee Brown	judge	not reported	$0.00	2010

The data contained in the table maybe verified by the interested reader at the Buckeye Institute web page. Please look at http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/state-salary Select the judiciary category for which there are about 12,500 entries on 24 pages. If desired one can approximate the name of the individual and thus get a brief more targeted result.

See also

• Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
• Election Results, Ohio Supreme Court
• List of Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court
• List of Ohio politicians
• List of Ohio politicians (by state office)
• Ohio District Courts of Appeal
• Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

References

1. ^ Ohio Revised Code § 2503.01

External links

• Ohio Supreme Court Online
• Opinions and Case Summaries of the Ohio Supreme Court

Coordinates: 39°57′37″N 83°00′09″W / 39.960358°N 83.002487°W / 39.960358; -83.002487