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Supreme Court of the State of Ohio
Seal of the Supreme Court of Ohio
Interactive map of Supreme Court of the State of Ohio
39°57′37″N83°00′09″W / 39.96028°N 83.00250°W /39.96028; -83.00250
Established	1802
Jurisdiction	Ohio, United States
Location	Columbus, Ohio
Coordinates	39°57′37″N83°00′09″W / 39.96028°N 83.00250°W /39.96028; -83.00250
Composition method	Partisan election
Authorized by	Ohio Constitution
Appeals to	Supreme Court of the United States
Judge term length	6 years (mandatory retirement at the age of 70)
Number of positions	7
Website	Official Website
Chief Justice
Currently	Sharon L. Kennedy
Since	January 1, 2023
Lead position ends	December 31, 2028
Jurist term ends	2032

TheSupreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state ofOhio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and theOhio Constitution. The court has seven members, achief justice andsix associate justices, who are elected at large by the voters of Ohio for six-year terms. The court has a total of 1,550 other employees. Since 2004, the court has met in theThomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center (formerly known as the Ohio Departments Building) on the east bank of theScioto River inDowntown Columbus. Prior to 2004, the court met in theJames A. Rhodes State Office Tower and earlier in the Judiciary Annex (now the Senate Building) of theOhio Statehouse.

The Ohio Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary is established and authorized within Article IV of theOhio Constitution.

The Supreme Court of Ohio was founded in 1802, established in the state constitution as a three-member court, holding courts in each county every year. The constitution was approved that year, one year before statehood. In 1823, the state legislature ordered the court to meet annually in Columbus. It was located in theOhio Statehouse beginning in 1857, and moved into the Statehouse Annex in 1901. The first female justice on the court wasFlorence E. Allen who served from 1923 to 1934. In 1974, the court moved from the annex building to theRhodes State Office Tower. It moved to the Ohio Judicial Center in 2004.^[1]

InDeRolph v. State (1997) the Supreme Court of Ohio found that Ohio's method of funding its schools was unconstitutional. The case originated in thePerry County Schools.

InMapp v. Ohio (1961), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Supreme Court of Ohio, and found that evidence seized unlawfully without a search warrant cannot be used in criminal prosecutions.

All the seats on the court are elected at large by the voters of Ohio. Every two years, two of the associate justice seats are up for election to a six-year term. For one of those three elections in a six-year cycle, the chief justice's seat is also up for election. In order to run for a seat on the court, a person must be admitted to the bar in Ohio, and have practiced as a lawyer or served as a judge for at least six years.^[2] There is an age limit: One may not run for a seat on any Ohio court if one is more than 70 years of age. This limit often forces the retirement of long-time justices. JusticeFrancis E. Sweeney, Sr., was barred by this rule from running for re-election in 2004, as was JusticeTerrence O'Donnell in 2018 and as Chief JusticeMaureen O'Connor was in 2022. However, a judge who reaches the age of 70 after being elected is not prevented from completing her or his term in office.

Thegovernor of Ohio may appoint a justice to the Court when there is a vacancy.

Until June 2021, judicial elections werenon-partisan. This meant that parties nominated candidates in primary elections, but party designations for the candidates were not permitted on the general electionballot. Candidates and judges are also restricted in making public political statements. In response to the 2020 election of Democrat Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Republicans passed a law making general elections partisan, one of seven states to elect justices with party labels on the ballot.^[3] The Ohio Judicial Conference and Ohio Courts of Appeals Judges opposed the change, saying the judiciary should be independent of parties.^[3]

From the seating ofRobert R. Cupp in 2007 to replace DemocratAlice Robie Resnick until the 2010 appointment ofEric Brown as chief justice, the court consisted entirely of Republicans who had been nominated through the primary process and won the general election, or who were appointed to an open seat by a Republican governor. This occurred once again in 2018 when RepublicanMary DeGenaro was appointed to fill the seat vacated by the lone Democrat on the court,Bill O'Neill. Democrats once again joined the court in 2019 with the election of Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart in November 2018. In the court's history, there have been four instances where the female justices have outnumbered the male justices. The first occurred from January to May 2003, the second time occurred in 2005 and 2006, the third time occurred between January 2011 and January 2017, and the fourth time occurred between January 2018 and December 2022.

As of 2025, the chief justice receives $203,575 per year and associate justices $191,092 per year.^[4]

• Ohio Supreme Court elections
• List of Ohio politicians
• List of Ohio politicians by state office
• Ohio District Courts of Appeals

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSupreme Court of Ohio.

• Ohio Supreme Court Online
• Opinions and Case Summaries of the Ohio Supreme Court

• Supreme Court of Ohio
• Ohio state courts
• State supreme courts of the United States
• 1802 establishments in the Northwest Territory
• Courts and tribunals established in 1802

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