Supreme Court dismisses lottery case

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Gov. Mike Dewine’s health orders and Vax-a-million lottery, saying an organization that sued didn’t meet the requirements to do so.

Ohio Stands Up!, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit also known as a dark money group, filed a lawsuit against Dewine’s million-dollar incentive to vaccinate Ohioans in May, arguing that the governor couldn’t give away money without lawmakers’ approval.

The Vax-a-million awarded $1 million prizes and scholarships to Ohioans who had received a COVID-19 shot.

But on Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously found that the group did not prove that its unidentified members were personally harmed by the lottery.

Ohio Stands Up! wanted the Ohio Supreme Court to say Dewine violated Ohio law and to block him from taking further COVID-19 actions. The group accused Vax-a-million of discriminating against unvaccinated Ohioans because they could not win the prize.

The complaint accused Dewine of forcing children to “undergo harmful genetic experimentation.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccines for children age 5 and up.

Justice Sharon Kennedy wrote in a concurring opinion that the Ohio Supreme Court wasn’t the right place to start.

“To be clear, I express no opinion regarding the weighty constitutional issues that Ohio Stands Up! raises,” wrote Kennedy, a Republican candidate for chief justice. “My only point is that this court lacks the judicial power to grant the remedy that Ohio Stands Up! seeks.”

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.