Judicial Elections and Their Opponents in Ohio

Judicial Elections and Their Opponents in Ohio

White Paper on the Ohio Supreme Court

November 8, 2010

Jacob H. Huebert

The issue of selecting the judiciary via elections has recently garnered widespread media attention. Various organizations and leaders, including retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, have made a coordinated effort to abolish judicial elections, generating debate as to whether they are the appropriate mechanism to select our judicial branch. The purpose of this paper is to make this ongoing discussion more robust by examining the history of judicial elections and the most significant attempts to eliminate them in Ohio. This paper focuses on Ohio’s history of selecting judges from the founding of Ohio as a state, to Ohio’s adoption of a new Constitution in 1851, to the numerous attempts by the bar and other groups to end judicial elections, to the present.

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Ohio State Courts

Judicial Elections and their opponents in Ohio PDF

About the author:

Prof. Jacob H. Huebert

Adjunct Professor of Law, Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law

Professor Huebert is an award-winning attorney who conducts an active law practice in Columbus.

His opinions have been solicited by both the print and the electronic media. He has appeared on television and in newspapers to comment on controversial legal policies, such as government intervention in the human organ transplant market, victimless crime, and the destruction of civil and constitutional rights since 9/11.

He has lectured on legal and academic issues in the United States and in Europe. His writing appears often in professional journals as well as the popular press all across America. See "Selected Writings/Presentations" below.

Professor Huebert established his practice in Columbus with Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, one of the oldest and largest law firms in Ohio, founded in 1846. Porter Wright also maintains offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Washington, DC, and Naples, Florida.

Since he joined Porter Wright, Professor Huebert has been involved in litigation ranging from real estate matters to business disputes to the death penalty. He has briefed and orally argued issues successfully before the U.S. Court of Appeals. He has conducted productive field investigations and witness interviews. He has represented clients effectively in both state and federal court. He has also independently introduced new business to the firm. And during his tenure at Porter Wright, the Distinguished Service Award was twice conferred upon him by The Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys.

We at Sea Change are great fans of Mr. Huebert and his brilliant insight.
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