Former Ohio Supreme Court justices join tour for independent, nonpartisan judiciary

Three former Ohio Supreme Court justices marched to their former workplace last week as part of a national movement to emphasize the importance of judicial independence.

The justices also decried the state law that requires partisan labels on state supreme court races, an Ohio Supreme Court decision to allow judges to endorse political candidates, and movements throughout the country to politicize judges’ seats.

“When average citizens start to talk about judges and justices by putting them in a political tribe, it undermines who we are,” said former justice Yvette McGee Brown, in a press conference outside the Joseph P. Kinneary federal courthouse in downtown Columbus.

Brown stood with fellow former justice Michael P. Donnelly and former Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor during the press conference with the organization Justice in Motion.

Donnelly said the fear is not just the loss of independence for judges and justices, but of societal and legal norms that were once believed to be concrete.

“You all grew up with the same norms that we accepted as Americans: that America was the great melting pot; if you were born here, you were an American; no one is above the law,” Donnelly said. “You see these norms being broken … it’s like a firehose coming at us.”

The justices were also joined by former North Carolina Supreme Court justice Robert Orr, along with former Ohio attorneys general Nancy Rogers and Richard Cordray, and judges from across the state.

Orr said the separation of powers between the branches of government is critical for democracy.

“The founders of our nation feared the consolidation of power into the hands of any one branch or any one person, and it was the judiciary that the framers of our Constitution … turned to, to abide by the law, to be independent, to be judges not for a party or a person, but for a Constitution and the people,” Orr said.

Justice in Motion puts judges from multiple states on a tour bus that travels from Pennsylvania to Michigan, holding events like the one in Columbus “focused on the rule of law, constitutional democracy, and public trust,” according to the organization.

Donnelly said the “assault” on the rule of law “could not be overstated,” especially with enormous ramifications possible from the midterm elections in November.

“In my lifetime, I have never seen this danger to the rule of law,” Donnelly said. “Call it out, don’t be afraid, exercise your vote as an American, it’s all on the line.”

Cordray said the danger to judicial independence starts at the very top.

“We’re here because we believe in the rule of law, and hate to see it corrupted by people who think they’re above the law, including the president of the United States,” he said.

O’Connor was flanked by her own “defender of democracy,” her 19-month-old dog Carlo. She pointed back to the redistricting battles that lasted the better part of four years in Ohio, with the supreme court she led rejecting five statehouse district maps and two congressional maps.

The former chief justice and former state lieutenant governor also mentioned the defeat of Issue 1, an effort she championed to overhaul the redistricting system in Ohio, and eliminate the Ohio Redistricting Commission.

Because Issue 1 was voted down in 2024, the commission continues to be made up of elected officials, mostly from the majority party, and includes the governor, secretary of state, and auditor of state.

But hard work in the next election could not only bolster the integrity of the judiciary, but bring about hope to address gerrymandering again, O’Connor said.

“We have the opportunity to vote for people who will make up the redistricting commission that we still have, that will make a difference how maps are drawn,” she said.

O’Connor added there is “talk” of a possible push to try redistricting reform again in 2027, depending on the results of the midterms.

The judges and justices urged Ohioans to educate themselves on the judicial candidates running in the November election, from the supreme court, down to their county courthouses.

Partisan politics should play no role in an independent judiciary, Donnelly said, and public confidence in it “is its lifeblood.”