Implementing Issue 1 will be challenging

On Nov. 7, voters in all 88 Ohio counties approved by overwhelming margins a victims’ bill of rights known as Marsy’s Law.

And now, prosecutors’ offices, sheriffs’ departments and police departments in each of those counties must devise their plans for complying with an Ohio constitutional amendment that was written and bankrolled by a billionaire who was embittered by the shoddy treatment his family received in California 34 years ago.

State Issue 1 had no organized opposition. No one wants to be seen as being antivictim. The Ohio associations of county prosecutors and their counterparts, the public defenders, expressed their opposition in thoughtful statements. And the American Civil Liberties Union warned Marsy’s Law would create conflicts between the Ohio Constitution and the U.S. Constitution that would have to be settled in court . ...

Passing Issue 1 was easy. Meeting its demands is going to be difficult, perhaps chaotic. Balancing the rights now embodied in the Ohio Constitution with those long established by the U.S. Constitution could prove impossible.

It is irresponsible for state officials and the Legislature to leave it to each county to address the legal and financial challenges of a law that requires fundamental changes in how the justice system works.