Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters thinks it’s too basic to change Ohio’s constitution, he told the Buckeye Firearms Association recently podcast.
Deters, an incumbent Republican judge, will be on the ballot for the state Supreme Court this November, but not for the seat he currently holds. Instead, Deters chose to challenge IInstead, incumbent Democratic judge Melody Stewart will serve her full term to run for his designated seat.
“As a political observer, not a Supreme Court justice, I believe the U.S. Constitution is too difficult to change,” Deters said on Monday’s episode. Keep and Bear Radio Podcast. “I mean, it’s really, really hard to change the United States Constitution. This would require a Herculean effort with the coastal wave. In Ohio, it’s quite simple. Just 50% plus one. That’s all you need. …I think it’s too easy in Ohio.”
While special election last summer57% of Ohioans voted against efforts that would make it more hard to pass future amendments to the Ohio Constitution. This maintained the status quo since 1912 that a elementary majority was needed to pass a constitutional amendment. Republicans tried to raise the threshold to 60% in an attempt to make it more hard to pass an amendment protecting abortion rights – which 57% of Ohioans also voted for in November 2023.
In a letter to colleagues, one of the Republican lawmakers pushing the effort also cited a halt to further redistricting reforms as a reason to support obstructing the process of amending the state constitution. In November, Ohio voters will decide on a redistricting amendment that would remove politicians from the map-making process in favor of a citizens’ commission.
Deters said on the podcast that his position is about public policy.
“As a matter of public policy, I think it should probably be harder to change Ohio’s constitution because otherwise we would be constantly changing it back and forth depending on the political winds,” Deters said on the podcast.
Deters was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court in January 2023 by Gov. Mike DeWine and had no prior judicial experience. He didn’t answer A a questionnaire the Ohio Capital Journal sent him relating to this issue to be a candidate in this year’s elections.
The Buckeye Firearm Political Action Committee has endorsed Deters and two other Republican candidates running for the Ohio Supreme Court: Judge of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Megan Shanahan and Judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Dan Hawkins. Party labels have been added to Ohio Supreme Court races by Republican lawmakers starting in 2022.
Deters recently talked about redistricting on a right-wing radio show in Cleveland Closely speaking to Bob Frantz.
“I think it’s kind of funny to watch the other side can’t win, wants to change the rules, whether it’s hacking the U.S. Supreme Court because they don’t have the justices they like or getting rid of the Electoral College because they don’t have as clear an advantage in the Electoral College as they do, and it’s just a flat popular vote. And now redistricting,” he said on a Cleveland radio show.
He made similar comments during the Buckeye Firearms Podcast, and even went a little further when podcast host and Buckeye Firearms Executive Director Dean Rieck asked Deters specifically about No. 1, which if approved, it would strip politicians of the ability to redistrict.
“I really can’t understand it because there will be legal proceedings in this case, but I will make one point: gerrymandering can be good and bad,” Deters said on the podcast. “I think it has a bad connotation today. It also has good connotations. I mean, if you’re doing it to protect electoral representation, I think that’s a good thing.
The second amendment is discussed in detail in the podcast. When gun violence came up, Deters said it wasn’t about the guns people were using.
“When you blame your gun, it’s a way to avoid personal responsibility,” he said on the podcast. “I’m telling you right now, some guy is coming into my theater with a gun. I hope there are people with guns out there to stop this, because that’s the only way mass shootings have been stopped in America. If there is someone else there, some law-abiding citizen who cares, he stops the mess.
Republicans currently have a 4-3 majority on the Ohio Supreme Court. Shannahan is challenging incumbent Democratic Judge Michael P. Donnelly, and Hawkins is challenging Lisa Forbes of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for Deters’ vacant seat. Depending on the choices, volDemocrats could flip the court and Republicans could expand their current 4-3 majority.
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