Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit related to primary

The Ohio Supreme Court has thrown out a lawsuit questioning the decision of four of its justices that upheld a state health order shutting down all polling places just before the March 17 primary election was to begin.

State Rep. Tom Brinkman (R., Cincinnati) had sued the four justices for not issuing an opinion that spelled out their reasoning for rejecting an effort in the early hours of Election Day to put in-person voting back on track.

He argued that the justices had shirked their responsibility by failing to do so.

The full court, however, granted a motion to dismiss filed by Attorney General Dave Yost’s office, who argued that Mr. Brinkman did not have standing to sue. The attorney general also argued that justices have no clear legal duty to publish the reasons for their decisions.

“The Court makes countless ‘decisions’ all the time concerning matters over which it has original and appellate jurisdiction...,” the motion to dismiss reads. “The Court does not and cannot include ‘reasons’.”

The attorney general argued that Brinkman failed to state a unique legal right that would give him standing to sue beyond what would be available to any member of the general public. The state representative was not a party to the original lawsuit brought by Corey Speweik, a Bowling Green attorney and Republican candidate at the time for Wood County Common Pleas Court judge on the primary ballot.

The high court on Wednesday, as with its original decision early in the morning of March 17, did not spell out its reasons for approving the motion to dismiss.

Brinkman had sued Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Patrick Fischer, Michael Donnelly, and Melody Stewart, the four justices who participated in that early morning decision. All four rejected Brinkman’s motion that they recuse themselves from considering his lawsuit.

The only justice who did recuse himself from the latest case was Justice Pat DeWine, the son of Gov. Mike DeWine.

Justices Sharon Kennedy and Judith French, who did not participate in the original case, joined the rest of the court on Wednesday in making the decision to dismiss unanimous.

While they admittedly did not have the authority to do so themselves, the governor and Secretary of State Frank LaRose had hoped on the eve of Election Day that a Franklin County judge would delay the date of in-person voting until June 2 because of concerns over potential spread of coronavirus.

But the judge rejected the move, resulting in the order from DeWine’s then health director, Dr. Amy Acton, to close all polling locations.

Ultimately, the General Assembly passed a law that technically retained the March 17 election date but extended voting for the primary through April 28 to accommodate mail-in votes and some in-person voting.