Supreme Court of Ohio

The Ohio Supreme Court has declined to reconsider its earlier dismissal of a lawsuit seeking $900 million in federal pandemic unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of Ohio workers. The money stems from Gov. Mike DeWine's 2021 decision to withdraw Ohio from a federal program providing extra weekly unemployment payments during COVID-19. Plaintiffs, represented by attorney Marc Dann, argued DeWine's unilateral move violated separation-of-powers principles and a 1970s state law, since only the legislature should have ended participation. Lower courts split on the issue before the state's high court dismissed the case as moot. Dann says a narrow chance remains the funds, held by the U.S. Department of Labor, could still be preserved for a future administration.

Mayfield Heights, Ohio, City Council voted 6-1 against a petitioners' request to rezone a 7.7-acre Parkland Boulevard parcel back to office use, clearing the way for voters to decide the matter directly via Issue 107 on the Nov. 3 ballot. The move follows an Ohio Supreme Court ruling upholding the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections' decision to let residents vote on whether to rezone the site for Sommers Development Group's proposed 61-unit townhome project, reversing council's May approval. Opponents, including nearby Woodhawk Drive residents and business owners, cite safety and land-use concerns, while Sommers Development maintains the project followed a thorough, fully vetted approval process.

Trenton, Ohio, a Butler County city of about 14,000, faces a ballot measure, Issue 17, that would bar data centers larger than 25 megawatts. A 250-megawatt Amazon Web Services facility is already under construction there; the measure's effect on that project is unclear, but it could block a second such facility. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce contributed $100,000 to oppose the measure and helped form the Trenton Community Alliance with local officials. The chamber also backed a failed effort, later stopped by the Ohio Supreme Court, to raise the signature threshold required to keep the amendment off the ballot. Opponents cite potential losses to school and public service funding.

Gun rights remain a central flashpoint in Ohio's 2026 elections for U.S. Senate and governor. Republican Jon Husted, who led concealed-carry reform as Ohio House Speaker, faces Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, criticized by gun-rights advocates for backing assault weapons bans, red-flag laws, and universal background checks. In the governor's race, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy opposes gun registration and red-flag orders, while Democrat Amy Acton, former state health director, frames gun ownership as a public health issue and backs expanded background checks. Republicans have poured over $200 million into the Senate race, with Trump and Vance rallying for Husted amid economic frustrations that analysts say could narrow GOP margins statewide.

Ohio adopted a statewide bridge-fencing policy in 1985 to deter objects being thrown or dropped onto roadways below, scoring bridges on risk factors and requiring fencing above a threshold. Implementation was slow: by the late 1980s, 461 bridges qualified, but only two fencing-specific contracts, covering 11 bridges, had been completed by 1990. That year, a concrete fragment killed Pietro Semadeni on a Cincinnati overpass that had qualified for fencing but hadn't received it, leading the Ohio Supreme Court to find ODOT negligent in 1996. By contrast, the court ruled this October that ODOT was not liable for Marquise Byrd's 2017 death on a Toledo bridge under reconstruction, since no policy required temporary fencing during that construction phase. ODOT's 2026 manual now addresses temporary fencing guidance.

An Ohio appeals court has ruled that the state's EdChoice and EdChoice Expansion voucher programs, which direct more than $1 billion in taxpayer money to private schools, violate the Ohio Constitution's requirement for a "thorough and efficient" system of common schools. The unanimous three-judge panel found private schools face less oversight, can selectively admit students, and divert funding from public schools, which have limited options in rural areas. The ruling is stayed pending appeal, and outgoing Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says he will take the case to the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing the program supports family choice rather than harming public schools.

The decision was welcomed by Policy Matters Ohio, teachers' unions, and a coalition of roughly 300 school districts that sued over the programs, who say lawmakers should return to a bipartisan school funding formula left unfunded for two years. The case now heads to Ohio's Supreme Court, where the outcome could have major political implications given mounting public frustration over vouchers, property taxes, and rising electricity costs ahead of the state's upcoming elections.

In an Oct. 6 ruling, the Ohio Supreme Court found the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) was not liable for the 2017 death of Marquise Byrd, a passenger struck by a sandbag thrown from Toledo's Indiana Avenue bridge during reconstruction. Protective fencing had been removed on the side under construction, and the court held ODOT retained discretionary immunity because no policy specifically required temporary fencing during construction work.

The decision contrasts with a 1996 case, Semadeni v. ODOT, in which the court found ODOT negligent for delaying implementation of its 1985 statewide bridge-fencing policy after a motorist was killed by concrete dropped from a Cincinnati overpass in 1990. That policy required fencing on qualifying existing bridges but initially funded only a fraction of them.

Justice Jennifer Brunner dissented in the Toledo case, arguing ODOT's removal of existing fencing without replacement was a negligent policy failure similar to Semadeni, not a protected discretionary choice. The appellate court had earlier ruled against ODOT before the Supreme Court reversed that decision.

A pardon from Ohio's governor removes legal restrictions tied to a conviction but does not establish innocence or automatically seal court records, according to a review of state law. The clarification comes as Gov. Mike DeWine's expedited pardon program has reached 323 pardons as of Oct. 6, though that figure does not indicate how many recipients also had their records sealed.

Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2967.04, an unconditional pardon relieves legal disabilities from a conviction but is not a judicial finding of innocence. The governor may separately direct sealing via a written writ under Section 2967.04(C), while pardon recipients can also petition a court for sealing under Section 2953.33, which requires a hearing and prosecutor notice. Access rules differ depending on the sealing route: governor-directed sealing allows broader law enforcement and background-check exceptions, while court-ordered sealing offers narrower access and added protections against being questioned about sealed records. A September 2025 amendment also altered which offense exclusions apply to court-based sealing requests.