This will be painful for those who care about the rule of law, but please read it all:
In 2018 and 2020, Ohio voters voted for a sea change on the Ohio Supreme Court, electing 3 Democratic-endorsed candidates in 4 elections. Democratic-endorsed judicial candidates also won a majority of the appellate seats in Ohio for the first time in recent memory.
At the highest Court, these new members became part of the 4-3 bipartisan majority that, among other things, struck down illegally gerrymandered federal and state maps.
That’s how it’s supposed to work in our system of checks and balances, right? An independent judiciary serving as a check on another branch of government. American governance 101.
But things then went wildly off course. And the clear evidence of what happened was on display, subtly, on this week’s Ohio ballot.
You see, the rigged and extreme Ohio legislature saw the new Court as a threat to unchecked power. So in 2021, they changed the rules of Ohio judicial elections to forge the most friendly courts possible at all levels. Y’know, eliminate all checks on their power.
For the first time, they added partisan affiliation to the ballot for Supreme Court & appellate elections, in their goal to make judicial races as partisan as everything else in Ohio at the statewide level.
So here is what voters experienced for the first time on their ballot:
Simple: Court races were treated the same as all other partisan statewide races.
But oddly, further down the ballot, these races appeared:
These too are court races, but, curiously, no party ID listed.
Why? Because at the county level, the GOP legislature knew that adding party ID would guarantee losses of favored GOP incumbents and candidates in large blue counties where much of the legal action occurs.
So unlike at the higher level, they left party affiliation OFF the ballot for these races.
That’s right. They changed a rule to help get themselves a friendly court at the two appellate levels…but kept the rule in place to maximize the chance of a friendly court at the trial court/county level.
Two sets of rules, one goal.
Oh, one other part of this week’s ballot underscored the ongoing attack on an independent judiciary:
Races for the Ohio Senate like this one were one of the three slots on every Ohioans’ ballot where a map that the current Ohio Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional STILL appeared and was voted on.
Importantly, a major reason they put these illegal maps on the ballot was their confidence that their other rule changes would create a new Court that would be an ally in the districting battle going forward. That’s right: violate the law long enough until a new, friendly Court says it’s all OK.
Sadly, it all worked.
They won all three Supreme Court races, even though these races were a good deal closer than the other statewide races.
Some very respected appellate Democratic-endorsed judges also lost re-election around the state with the new rule of party ID being listed.
And as intended, at the county level, a number of GOP judicial incumbents and candidates, listed without their party ID on the ballot, ended up winning in counties where other GOP candidates with a party label lost.
And the illegal maps, on the ballot despite violating the current Ohio Supreme Court’s repeated rulings, also achieved their goal:
One other thing. In case you think the gerrymandered legislature is done, they’re also working on a plan to redraw Ohio’s appellate districts to ALSO favor GOP judges who will favor them.
You know…while you’re gerrymandering, you might as well gerrymander judicial districts too.
Look at those ballots again.
A few words added here. But not there.
The order of some races moved.
Unconstitutional districts.
Most voters wouldn’t notice any of this. But make no mistake, those subtle changes are part of a steady, and direct assault on the independent judiciary in Ohio.
Worse, other states should be prepared for the same thing to happen. This is bigger than Ohio. There is a national effort to undermine independent courts all over the country. And it involves changes just like this:
National attacks on state courts
North Carolina experienced exactly what Ohio just did, and lost their majority this week as well.
And yes, this attack on state courts also includes the so-called independent legislative “theory” now before the US Supreme Court (an appeal from, you guessed it, the North Carolina Supreme Court).
Bottom line: undermining independent judiciaries is a core strategy in gerrymandered states.
Be ready for it.
And those who care about the rule of law must find ways to fight back.
I’m seriously wondering what the crew in Columbus is going to waste time on in the biennium ahead. My local rep, Sarah Fowler Arthur, got secured her reelection and it seems like we’re going to see more variants on HB327 as well as her legislation restricting home rule as to AirBnB. I don’t think it has occurred to her yet that we need another seat on the common pleas court locally to clear our criminal docket but that’s useful legislation she’s likely to never introduce.
I agree with David DeWitt that voters across the Buckeye State metaphorically gave a permission to the GOP to keep on keeping on with the freakishness.
“When you have the courts, you can do anything.”
(Not my quote. I forgot where I heard this.)