Supreme Court Justice Brunner sues over party affiliation ballot requirement

YOUNGSTOWN - Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner of Columbiana County has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging a law that requires her political affiliation to be displayed next to her name on election ballots.
The Knox Township resident argues in a civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that the law that went into effect in September 2021 violates her civil rights and right to free speech.
According to the lawsuit, although the recent law requires that Supreme Court candidates have their party designation displayed on ballots, those same candidates are prohibited under judicial rules from engaging in partisan campaign activities permitted by candidates running for other non-judicial offices.
In 2022, after the new law took effect, Democrat Brunner lost her re-election bid for Supreme Court Chief Justice to Republican challenger Sharon Kennedy.
Brunner points out in her complaint that she lost the election for the office of chief justice in her home of Columbiana County by a ratio significantly different from the ratio she had won it in 2020 just two years earlier when her party affiliation did not appear on the ballot.
Justice Bruner says she won only 18 counties in Ohio in 2022, despite having prevailed in 40 counties just 2 years previously as a nonpartisan candidate.
The lawsuit is asking the federal court to prohibit the state from requiring political labels next to Supreme Court candidates’ names on ballots or to prevent enforcement of partisan political restrictions on judicial candidates by Secretary of State Frank Larose, Attorney General Dave Yost, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and the Board of Professional Conduct, who are all named as defendants.
Brunner, whose current term as Supreme Court Justice expires in 2027, says in the complaint that she must decide whether to seek reelection or run for a non-judicial position.
The defendants named in the complaint have yet to file a response.