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Justice criticizes court’s leadership
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Mary Trapp
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Judy Lanzinger
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Judge Eric Brown
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
The void left on the Ohio Supreme Court by the death of Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer hasn’t been filled by his replacement, said Justice Maureen O’Connor.
“I believe that, at this point, the Ohio Supreme Court is akin to a rudderless ship without a leader, without direction, and post-Nov. 2 [Election Day] that will change,” Justice O’Connor told The Vindicator editorial board Monday.
The comments from Justice O’Connor, who is running for chief justice, are aimed directly at Chief Justice Eric Brown, appointed to the job in April to replace Justice Moyer.
The two face each other in the Nov. 2 general election for a six-year term.
During a Monday telephone interview in response to Justice O’Connor’s comments, the chief justice said: “I have been an effective leader on the court. ... My style is very hands-on. I don’t lead by press conference. I work with others to come up with solutions to problems. Certainly, there’s a lot of talk this campaign season.”
Justice O’Connor also said she was “really disturbed” that Strickland, a Democrat, “unilaterally without consultation” appointed Brown as chief justice. Brown was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the chief justice position with Justice O’Connor the Republican nominee. Though there are partisan political primaries for court seats in Ohio, judges don’t run with party affiliations on the general-election ballot.
“The governor had a constitutional responsibility to appoint a chief justice,” Brown said. “There was an immediate need to fill the void left by the death of Chief Justice Thomas Moyer.”
Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger, running for re-election in November against Judge Mary Jane Trapp of the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals, was also at The Vindicator on Monday meeting with the editorial board.
When asked about Chief Justice Brown, Lanzinger, who won the Republican nomination for her seat, said, “The work is definitely getting done, and I think Chief Justice Moyer would be very pleased by that. [But] we had a chief justice with 18 years of experience, and we now have someone appointed to the spot with [less] experience. That would tell you something right there.”
All of the candidates say the average voter doesn’t know who they are or what the court does, and several don’t know that the Supreme Court’s justices are elected.
“People have absolutely no clue who we are or what we do,” Judge Trapp said.
Many people make opinions about judges by watching television shows such as “Law and Order,” and afternoon court shows, said Justice O’Connor, who blamed the media for “this distortion.”
“These shows portray judges as if we were dim-witted, curmudgeons, disrespectful and tyrants,” she said.
The justice said she’s never watched even one episode of an afternoon court show. (She also said she’s never watched Oprah Winfrey’s talk show because “I’m never home in the afternoon.”)
Before Chief Justice Brown’s appointment, there wasn’t a Democrat on the Supreme Court since Jan. 1, 2007.
Judge Trapp, who won the Democratic primary, said there is a need for “diversity” on the court, and that “the majority is ignoring precedents to arrive at decisions.”
Party affiliation doesn’t equate to diversity, all of the justices have different backgrounds, and politics never plays a role in decisions, Justices O’Connor and Lanzinger said.