New Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Takes Oath of Office - AMCNO Leadership Attends Ceremony |
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Justice Maureen O’Connor was ceremoniously administered the oath of office last
week before a capacity crowd (which included representatives from the Academy of
Medicine of Cleveland & Northern Ohio) in the Ohio Supreme Court, becoming the
first woman to hold the post of Chief Justice since the court’s creation in
1803. Justice O’Connor and three other elected or appointed members of the court
had already have been sworn-in privately. Justice O’Connor said she hoped, in partnership with her colleagues on the court, to articulate a vision for the judicial branch of state government. She outlined four areas of challenge: budget, diversity, impartiality, and collaboration. With regard to the budget she proposed a 10% cut in the court’s discretionary biennial budget and indicated that she will establish a bipartisan Task Force on the Judicial Budget to examine the current structure and funding of the judicial branch. On the topic of diversity, Justice O’Connor said that less than one in four judges in Ohio are women, although Ohio’s population is 50% women. She also noted that African Americans make up about 12 percent of our population in Ohio, but less than 7 percent of judges in Ohio and that of attorneys self-identifying race and ethnicity on their registrations, less than 1% are Hispanic. Therefore, she stated that until we have a bench and a bar in Ohio that is truly representative of our diverse population, we have much more work to do in this area. To increase impartiality in the election process the chief justice proposed holding non-partisan primaries that remove party affiliations from the names of judicial candidates on the ballot. In addition, she endorsed making gubernatorial appointments to fill Supreme Court vacancies subjected to Senate confirmation. She noted that there are different challenges and concerns of local courts and judges across the state. So in order to increase collaboration she plans to take trips across the state to meet with and listen to courts and bar associations on a regular basis. She closed with the words of her friend and colleague, the late Chief Justice Moyer: “Let us leave here with a renewed spirit and hope for the American ideal of justice for all. Let us recommit, let us rededicate ourselves to the expectations that justice is achieved through the virtuous acts of judges bound by the principles of impartiality and fairness,” she said.Body |
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