Ohio’s Supreme Court races shaping up

The Ohio Constitution guarantees that “every person, for an injury done him in his land, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law.”

You may not have known that. But you can be sure that your insurance company does. So do trial lawyers — lawyers who represent injured Ohioans.

And insurers and trial lawyers know this, too: A dictionary doesn’t necessarily determine the courtroom meaning of the Ohio Constitution’s promise — that is, whether an Ohioan can or can’t win compensation after, say, being injured in a traffic accident, or because of medical malpractice, or thanks to toxic chemicals.

Instead, Ohio’s Supreme Court can define the constitution’s words. And that’s something The Powers That Be never forget — and not enough Ohio voters remember.

Next year, two justices, both Greater Clevelanders – Terrence O’Donnell, age 71, a Republican, and William M. O’Neill, age 70, the high court’s only Democrat — are retiring. An Ohioan can’t be elected or appointed if he or she would be age 70 or older on the day his or her judicial term begins.

The Ohio Republican Party isn’t wasting time. It’s already endorsed candidates to succeed O’Donnell and O’Neill.

One of the GOP’s endorsed candidates is Judge Mary DeGenaro, of suburban Youngstown. DeGenaro is a judge on the Ohio Court of Appeals (7th District). That Appeals Court district, based in Youngstown, includes, besides Mahoning County, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe and Noble counties. DeGenaro earned a bachelor’s degree at Youngstown State University and a law degree at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

The other GOP-endorsed Supreme Court candidate is Judge Craig R. Baldwin, of Newark. Baldwin is judge on the Ohio Court of Appeals (5th District). The Appeals Court district, based in Canton, includes among other counties Delaware, Fairfield and Licking, in suburban Columbus. Baldwin earned a bachelor’s degree at Ohio University and a law degree at Capital University.

An Ohio Republican Party spokesman said it hasn’t yet been decided which open Supreme Court seat that DeGenaro and Baldwin, respectively, will seek.

Democratic State Chair David Pepper said Ohio Democrats likely won’t screen and endorse Supreme Court candidates until later this year.

But Pepper said that Judge Melody J. Stewart, of the Ohio Court of Appeals (8th District), is strongly considering whether to run for the Supreme Court. The Appeals Court district encompasses Cuyahoga County. Stewart earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, a law degree at Cleveland-Marshall, and a Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.

Also strongly considering a run for the Supreme Court, Pepper said, is Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Michael P. Donnelly. Donnelly earned a bachelor’s degree at John Carroll University and a law degree at Cleveland-Marshall.

Because Ohio’s judicial ballots don’t include candidates’ party affiliations, voters sometimes skip judicial candidates while voting for other public offices. That’s called “drop-off.” In 2016, for example, while Ohioans cast roughly 5.7 million votes for presidential candidates, and about 5.4 million votes for U.S. Senate candidates, that year’s two contested Supreme Court races (which Republicans won) attracted as total of 4.3 million voters in one Supreme Court race, about 4.1 million voters in the other — a dropoff of about 25 percent.

Pepper’s taking aim at drop-off, which, regardless of an Ohio voter’s politics, dilutes his or her clout: Ohio Supreme Court justices can have the last word on utility rates, workers’ compensation claims — and the death penalty. That’s immense power — and it can’t be leashed by voters who skip Ohio’s judicial ballot on Election Day.

Because Ohio’s judicial ballots don’t include candidates’ party affiliations, voters sometimes skip judicial candidates while voting for other public offices.