Rapist case shows how court shouldn’t work

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Last December, the Ohio Supreme Court in Brandt v. Pompa changed its position on a 2005 statute, Senate Bill 80, that caps non-economic damages—think pain and suffering. More stunning is how the case brings to light the politics in judicial decisions.

Amanda Brandt had been sexually abused as a middle schooler by Roy Pompa, now serving a life sentence. Based on Senate Bill 80, part of her jury award was reduced by the trial judge.

Brandt appealed on grounds the ...

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23
MAR
1

Social Issues

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State should support legal aid

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Is access to legal assistance for low-income Americans important? President Donald Trump doesn’t think so. His 2018 budget proposed eliminating the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), an independent nonprofit, established during the Nixon administration that provides civil legal aid to low-income Americans.

Trump apparently forgot about his campaign theme—“to bring hope to every forgotten stretch of this country.” According to former LSC president Martha Bergmark, the majority of the states with the lowest ranking for access to legal assistance for low-income citizens ...

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28
MAY
2

Social Issues

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Ohio death penalty task force got it right

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Two years ago, in response to questions about lack of uniformity in carrying out the death penalty, Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor formed a task force to assess whether Ohio’s death penalty is being administered fairly. The task force recently announced its recommendations, and though it was a balanced group, some members criticized the task force for being “strongly influenced by a pro-defense majority bent on an agenda of abolition, not fairness.” The Dispatch criticized the task force ...

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13
JUN
0

Death Penalty

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Chief Justice O’Connor abandons some of her ideas

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The Dispatch reported today that Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor  has abandoned four of her proposals to change judicial elections. The three ideas that remain from the proposals she suggested in early 2013 are: 1) amend the constitution so that judicial elections take place in odd years, so that only judges would be on the ballot, and move judges from the bottom to the top of the ballot; 2) create a voter education website; and 3) increase the ...

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2
MAY
0

Judges

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The Ohio State Bar Association should take a lesson from our chief justice

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The Ohio State Bar Association has long supported the idea of merit appointment/retention elections for judges but has done little to actually promote the idea since the failed referendum in 1987. I don’t understand the value in the OSBA voicing support for merit appointment when our association does not actively work to achieve it.

In contrast, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court is aggressively pursuing her idea of changing the format for judicial elections. She proposed her ideas ...

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8
NOV
0

Judges

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