Ohio Republican Chief Justice sharply criticized the Ohio Republican Party Wednesday for their statement calling a judge partisanRepublican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose last month ordered that absentee
ballot drop boxes be limited to one per county. Shortly after Judge Richard Fry ruled Tuesday that LaRose’s rule to limit the number to one in each county was arbitrary and issued a ruling that allows for the addition of ballot drop boxes, the Republican Party released a statement. It read, in part: “After the corruption and deceit we have seen from Ohio Democrats, it comes as no surprise to discover they have colluded with a Democrat Common Pleas Court judge regarding a ruling on ballot drop boxes,”.
Republican Chief Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor issued a condemnation of the party’s comments. She was the Republican Lieutenant Governor of Ohio before joining the Ohio Supreme Court in 2003 as an Associate Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and becoming Chief Justice in 2011.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor issued a statement that says in part:
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms both the statement released by the Ohio Republican Party on September 15, 2020, and its unsigned authors. The statement disparages the integrity of Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Frye. The publication accuses Judge Frye of colluding with the Ohio Democratic Party and labels him a “partisan judge.”
To accuse a judge of deciding the matter before him on partisan politics and further accuse the judge of “obstruction of his judicial responsibility” is without merit and is meant to further the false narrative that judges have no conscience, no legal responsibilities, and no capacity to decide what the law is beyond the raw politics of the issue.
The Republican Party’s statement should be seen for what it is: part of a continuing string of attacks against any decision that doesn’t favor a political end, regardless of party, even if that decision may be legally correct and indeed legally required.
Attacks on the judiciary only serve to undermine the public’s confidence in the courts. Attacks such as these, no matter the source, reflect poorly, not on the judiciary, but on the leadership of those who would perpetrate them."
Her full statement can be found here...
http://www.courtnewsohio.gov/bench/2020/judicialAttack_091620