Retired Judges End 3-State Court Independence Tour in Columbus as Ohio Ballots List Party Labels
Updated
Updated · NPR · Jul 12
Retired Judges End 3-State Court Independence Tour in Columbus as Ohio Ballots List Party Labels
3 articles · Updated · NPR · Jul 12
Summary
Columbus marked the latest stop of the Justice in Motion bus tour, where retired judges in black robes walked from the federal courthouse to the Ohio Supreme Court to press for independent courts.
3 states — Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan — were included in the tour, organized by Keep Our Republic and Democracy Rising to counter what participants called increasingly politicized courts.
Maureen O'Connor, the former Ohio chief justice, said judges must decide cases by law rather than party, invoking criticism she faced from Republicans after a redistricting ruling.
Ohio has moved the other way in recent years by listing party affiliation in higher-court races, a shift the judges said undermines an oath owed to the law, not political parties.