Retaining Eric Brown as Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice
Submitted by Anastasia Pantsios on Sun, 08/08/2010 - 10:42pm.
Last night, I dressed up for the ODP dinner in Columbus. Today, I dressed down for the Geauga County Democratic Party picnic in Newbury. Thanks for the bocaburger, guys!
Chief Justice Eric Brown, who is running for election after being appointed by the governor to fill the vacant left by the death of Thomas Moyer, was the special guest. He pointed out the difference it's made since he's been on the Supreme Court. Prior to his appointment, all seven justices were Republicans, and he said it was a very clubby environment, seven people who basically agreed on everything. They weren't being challenged to view things from different angles or to defend their viewpoints to each other, so they didn't.
He said with his appointment, the atmosphere changed. And he said that as Chief Justice, he was able to make a big impact in bringing more diverse viewpoints. "I control the docket, I control the calendar," he said. "I get to speak first so I get to set the agenda and frame the issues."
Brown said that he wants people to be able to trust the court and to believe that they will get a fair hearing, whether they are a powerful corporation or a regular working person. Unfortunately, he's up against the perception that some judges are influenced by campaign donors; in 2006, the New York Times did a front-page article about Ohio Supreme Court Justice Terrence O'Donnell, finding that he decided with campaign donors 91 percent of the time. In many of those cases, there may have been good reasons, but it doesn't inspire confidence.
Keeping Brown in his position is essential to avoid having the court go back to its old clubby ways, where justices quibbled about details but saw things from basically the same angle. Just as important, we have to elect the other Democrat running for a seat on the Supreme Court, Mary Jane Trapp so that there is another Democrat on the court to help him bounce things around.
