Incumbent Kennedy faces off with Judge O'Donnell in Ohio Supreme Court race

Oct. 4--COLUMBUS -- The race for one of two Ohio Supreme Court seats up for grabs Nov. 3 pits an eight-year Republican incumbent against a Democratic judge with 16 years on the state's largest trial court.

Justice Sharon Kennedy, a former Butler County domestic relations judge, first won election to the high court in 2012, defeating a Democratic incumbent who had been appointed by then-Gov. Ted Strickland. Justice Kennedy won a full six-year term two years later and is now seeking another.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell ran unsuccessfully in 2014, losing to incumbent Justice Judith French, and again in 2016, losing an extremely tight race against current Justice Pat Fischer.

Both jurists have been rated "recommended" by the Ohio State Bar Association.

"I believe a justice of the Supreme Court should faithfully follow the constitution with the prerogative to interpret the laws without fear or favor," Judge O'Donnell said. "...Sometimes that means reasonably interpreting the law in a way your partisans wouldn't like you to. That's tough. That's the nature of the job.

"Sometimes you have to put the legislature or executive back in its lane," he said.

Justice Kennedy describes herself as a "textualist," meaning she believes in addressing the narrow issue of dispute in the law and not using the power of the judiciary to rewrite the law to a desired outcome. When necessary, the court can point to a problem that it believes the General Assembly should address.

SHARON KENNEDY

-- Age: 58

-- Residence: Hamilton

-- Party affiliation: Republican*

-- Current office: Justice, Ohio Supreme Court (2012-present)

-- Prior elected office: Judge, Butler County Common Pleas Court (1999-2102)

-- Education: Law degree (1991), bachelor's in social work (1984), University of Cincinnati

JOHN O'DONNELL

-- Age: 55

-- Residence: Lakewood

-- Party affiliation: Democrat*

-- Current office: Judge, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court (2002-05, 2007-present)

-- Education: Law degree, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (1993), bachelor's in English, Miami University of Ohio (1987)

(--) Judicial candidates appear on general election ballots without party affiliation

"Sometimes judges say they're doing the right thing even if it's contrary to law," she said. "When I defend where I am as a philosopher of judicial restraint, I try to explain that if you want that, you're destabilizing not only the law, but the republic, the system. Where is the equality in law?"

The Supreme Court races are the only Ohio offices on the statewide ballot this year. Adding attention is the fact that Democrats have a rare opportunity to capture the court's majority from the Republicans, who now hold a 5-2 advantage.

The court's rulings affect such things as school funding, application of Ohio's death penalty, civil lawsuit awards, and insurance coverage. Next year the court could also act on a challenge to new congressional and state legislative districts as redrawn by the General Assembly following the U.S. Census.

In Ohio, judicial candidates are nominated through partisan primaries, but they run in the general election without partisan labels.

Justice Kennedy said partisan affiliation should not matter.

"We're not elevating party platform," she said. "My whole assignment under the constitution as a separate but coequal branch of government is to interpret the law.... This isn't winners and losers. The text is the text."

As recently as last year, the high court was 7-0 Republican.

"It's almost psychological," Judge O'Donnell aid. "...If we can get a court that is 4-3 ... the public can look at that and look at the outcomes from the court. If people judge on a partisan basis, they can say they are basically evenly divided. All but the most fervent partisans would say they want a 7-0 court. That is not good government."

Judge O'Donnell has faced backlash from fellow Democrats after he acquitted in 2015 a Cleveland police officer of manslaughter charges in the high-profile shootings of two homeless, unarmed black people. The shootings followed a 2012 police chase involving more than 100 officers.

"I made a decision of not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt based on a particular set of facts and body of evidence," the judge said. "What I didn't do is sufficiently recognize the emotion generated by the case. In making the decision, I didn't sufficiently acknowledge the tragedy of it all."

He said he's not sure how that decision plays today given the race-related protests and violence that have occurred across the country. He said he stands by his ruling, but wishes now he'd made an oral declaration along with it.

Justice Kennedy served as a Hamilton police officer before getting her law degree and joining the Butler County Common Pleas Court's domestic relations division.

"I made car stops in the middle of the night," she said. "I made those decisions to have someone exit a car, to search, to make an arrest...It's made me a good steward of case types involving law enforcement. It doesn't mean I always rule for law enforcement, because I haven't."

The justice faced criticism in 2017 when she spoke at Greater Toledo's Right to Life annual breakfast at a time when a case was pending before the court involving a Toledo abortion clinic.

She said she was asked to speak about the tripartite of government, a speech she said she had delivered to other groups.

"I didn't take questions," she said. "I didn't talk about abortion."

She said she spoke with the court's Board of Grievances and Discipline as to whether it was appropriate for her to accept the speaking invitation. She later declined to recuse herself from the abortion-clinic case in which the court ultimately allowed the state to shut down the clinic -- albeit briefly.

"It comes down to people who don't like this group, who don't like their First Amendment voice, who think they shouldn't have civic education," she said. "Then who decides who gets civic education?"

Questions frequently arise about when justices should remove themselves from cases, particularly those involving entities or people that have financially contributed to their election campaigns.

"The one thing I would do differently is, if I were asked to recuse myself, I would either agree and give a reason or decline and give a reason," Judge O'Donnell said. "When you look at the dockets now, I just see in cases where a justice simply informs the court that 'I wish to recuse myself,' period."

Justice Kennedy noted that judges have a limited window during their election cycles to accept contributions of capped sizes.

"Money follows philosophy," she said. "Not only do I say I exercise judicial restraint, I have a body of work. That's what people support."

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