Youngstown Daily Legal News

Proposed ballot measure to impose term limit for Ohio Supreme Court progresses

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: November 16, 2016

The Ohio Attorney General's Office last week certified a petition for a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would impose term limits for members of the state Supreme Court and change which laws apply to members and employees of the General Assembly.

A group called the Committee to Impose Term Limits on the Ohio Supreme Court and to Preclude Special Legal Status for Members and Employees of the Ohio General Assembly submitted a written petition to the Attorney General's Office on Oct. 26, 2016.

Last Monday, Attorney General Mike DeWine certified the petition as containing the necessary 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters and a "fair and truthful" summary of the proposed amendment.

In a letter of certification to Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, DeWine wrote, "Having examined the submission, I conclude that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed law. I therefore submit the following certification to you:

"Without passing upon the advisability of the approval or rejection of the measure to be referred, but pursuant to the duties imposed upon the Attorney General's Office under Section 3519.01(A) of the Ohio Revised Code, I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed law."

The language of the petition aims to add a new division to Section 6 of Article IV of the Ohio Constitution stating, "No person shall be elected or appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court if said person, at the time of said election or appointment, has served nine or more consecutive years as a judge of the Supreme Court regardless of whether as chief justice, a justice or a combination of the two."

The petition also aims to add a 43rd section to Article II of the Constitution, stating that "all laws that apply to the people of the State of Ohio and its political subdivisions shall apply equally to the members and employees of the General Assembly."

Now that the summary language and initial signatures are certified, the Ohio Ballot Board must determine of the amendment contains a single or multiple issues.

Then, the committee will be responsible for collecting signatures for each issue from registered voters in each of 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, equal to 5 percent of the total vote cast in the county for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election.

Total signatures collected statewide must also equal 10 percent of the total vote cast for the governor at the last gubernatorial election.

[Back]