Meet 2 Ohio Supreme Court Justices pitted in a high-stakes race in Nov. 5 election
When Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy left a seat open on the Ohio Supreme Court to fill her current role, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Republican Joseph Deter to become an associate justice in 2022.
A few Ohio Supreme Court Justices’ terms are up this year, and instead of running for his current seat, Deter chose to run against current Justice Melody Stewart, a Democrat, on the ballot.
Stewart and Deter each hope to win over enough votes to secure the six-year term seat on the Ohio Supreme Court.
What are the stakes?
The Republican-affiliated Justices on the Ohio Supreme Court currently hold a 4-3 majority, with three seats up for grabs as terms run out.
According to the Ohio Capital Journal, “if Democrats win all three races, it would become a 4-3 Democratic court. If Republicans win all three races, it would become a 6-1 Republican court.”
The Dayton Daily News is calling this election “a critical chapter for the court.”
“[Deter’s] political move pits two Supreme Court justices against each other and guarantees that a fresh face will be elected to the bench to take over Deters’ current seat for the remainder of the term,” according to Avery Kreemer for the Dayton Daily News.
Here’s what you need to know about the candidates.
Joseph Deter
Deter attended the University of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
He’s the longest serving prosecuting attorney in Hamilton County’s history.
“I successfully prosecuted five serial killers during my time as Hamilton County Prosecutor,” Deter said. “Over the course of my public career, I have always stood by my oath to uphold the law and have always taken great pride in standing up for victims of crime, especially when those victims were children.”
As an Ohio Supreme Court Justice since 2022, Deter said his ultimate goal is to “respect and honor the rule of law.”
“I view the role of the Supreme Court as a co-equal branch of government to interpret our constitution while showing judicial restraint from influencing legislation,” he said. “I am running for this seat on the Ohio Supreme Court to ensure we have an originalist philosophy on the court. More and more courtrooms across the state and country are falling into judicial activism where the judge takes it into their own hands to legislate from the bench and influence the law however they feel.”
Melody Stewart
Stewart is from Cleveland, and she attended the Cleveland State University College of Law, Case Western Reserve University and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Stewart made history as the first African American woman elected to the top appellate court in Ohio, and she is a classically-trained pianist.
Stewart is the Ohio Supreme Court liaison to the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation, and she has served on boards and committees of bar associations.
Stewart was also elected three times to the eighth district of the Ohio Court of Appeals, where she served for 12 years before moving to the Supreme Court.
“I am the most experienced appellate jurist on the Ohio Supreme Court and have been endorsed by major newspapers; bar associations; law enforcement groups; labor organizations; and by health care, educational, environmental, and grass roots organizations,” she said.
Stewart brings 18 years of judicial experience to the Ohio Supreme Court, while Deters started his role as a justice last year.
“I am being challenged by a junior colleague who was politically appointed to the court just last year with zero prior judicial experience. He was not appointed for good public service reasons, but for political ones,” said Stewart.
“In his words, he was told that in order to get the appointment, he would have to agree to run against one of the sitting Democratic-supported justices on the court to ‘take them out.’ I hope voters don’t reward this attempt to replace a good and quality public servant with a life-long politician,” she added.
For more information on the upcoming election, see the Mahoning Matters voter guide.
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