An Oath of Office

A new year brings new leadership and January has been a month of investitures with several state leaders taking their oaths of office!

Supreme Court Justices Judith L. French and Sharon L. Kennedy took their oaths of office during a traditional swearing-in ceremony last week in the courtroom of the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center.


Justice Sharon Kennedy

Justice Judith French

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on Jan. 12, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor administered the oaths to Gov. John Kasich, who started his second term at midnight, and to Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in the Senate chambers of the Statehouse. Attorney General Mike DeWine was sworn in on Jan. 11. Secretary of State Jon Husted renewed his oath in the chambers of the House of Representatives on Jan. 12. Auditor Dave Yost was sworn in on Jan. 12 in the Statehouse atrium, and Treasurer Josh Mandel began his second term on Jan. 12 with a swearing-in ceremony at the Statehouse rotunda. Justice Kennedy returned the favor as she helped swear-in some lawmakers on Jan. 5 as they became part of the 131st General Assembly.

Taking an oath is an important part of history. It reminds us that we have to uphold the U.S. Constitution and the Ohio Constitution, and it binds us to perform our duties in good faith.

You may not know this, but a newly elected or appointed judge must take the oath of office before entering judicial office, and an incumbent judge must take the oath of office before the commencement of each term of office.

When we take the judicial oath, we recite:

“I, ___(name)___do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Ohio, will administer justice without respect to persons, and will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me

as _____(type of judge)____,according to the best of my ability and understanding.”

Here’s to a new year of Ohio leadership and to its top officials.

 

Hathaway Brown Students Meet Chief Justice during Field Trip

You are never too old to decide what you want to be when you grow up. That’s a great piece of advice from Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor.

She spoke with students from Hathaway Brown (an all-girls school in Shaker Heights) about how she originally wanted to become a doctor, and then a teacher, before paving her path in life to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

We want to thank the students from Hathaway Brown for not only asking the Chief amazing questions but for prepping so well for their tour of the Visitor Education Center at the Ohio Judicial Center.

We hope they enjoyed the case they heard being argued before the seven Justices of the Supreme Court and learned how important the rule of law is.



Students and teachers: If you have any questions before or after your visit to the Supreme Court, please post them here on the blog, and we will get you an answer ASAP.

Three Women Soon to Serve on U.S. Supreme Court

The news that Solicitor General Elena Kagan was confirmed today as the fourth woman justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court is a milestone. Back in 1981, President Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first, and the lone female justice. Now, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Kagan together will make up a third of the Supreme Court this fall.

Times have changed since women generally were steered into becoming teachers, secretaries, or nurses if they wished to work outside their homes. Yet even then some women did study law, becoming attorneys and judges. It happened here in Ohio.

A short history lesson about women Justices on the Ohio Supreme Court since 1803.

Florence E. Allen was the first woman on the Supreme Court of Ohio and served from 1923 to 1934. She was named a “Great Ohioan” in January by the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board and the Capitol Square Foundation because of her many “firsts”: the first woman elected to a U.S. court of last resort, the first woman elected to a judicial office in Ohio, the first woman assistant county prosecutor in the United States, and the first woman appointed to a federal appeals court judgeship.

After Justice Allen left the Court in 1934, nearly 50 years passed before another woman, Blanche Krupansky became a justice, serving from 1981 to 1983. A short six years later, on Jan. 2, 1989, Alice Robie Resnick became the third woman to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court.

Four more women have taken their seats since then. Justice Deborah L. Cook (1995), Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton (1996), and Justice Maureen O’Connor (2002) joined Justice Resnick to create the first of two female majorities on the Court. I became the seventh woman and 150th Justice when I took office in 2004 after serving on the other three court levels.

To date, the seven women Justices of the 152 Justices of the Supreme Court of Ohio still represent only 5 percent, a small minority of those who have served on the high court in Ohio’s 207-year history. But overall, our record still beats that of the U.S. Supreme Court.