Former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor poses for a portrait in the Court Law Library reading room on December 8, 2022, at the Supreme Court of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Only repost photo with original story.)
Former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor is spending her retirement caring for a up-to-date puppy and fighting to retain judicial power in the United States.
The longtime Ohio judge and former lieutenant governor spent her retirement working to improve her profession and the government surrounding it.
Since leaving his position as central chief justice of the state Supreme Court in behind schedule 2022 due to age restrictions, O’Connor has served on the International Constitutional Court’s task forces and advisory groups and has been a figurehead in efforts to change Ohio’s redistricting process from the current politician-led Ohio Redistricting Commission to a citizen-led panel.
She left court firmly protective independence of the judiciaryand insisted that judges remain impartial and apolitical. She has spent her career addressing issues and fighting the politicization of the justice system, no matter who she may offend in the process.
“Judges have no electorate”
When congressional redistricting and statehouses lawsuits were brought before the Ohio Supreme Court, O’Connor was criticized for siding with the majority opinion and striking down five different statehouses and two congressional maps as unconstitutional.
As a well-known registered Republican, she received letters from other party members stating that she was “not acting like a Republican.” She even faced impeachment threats from fellow Republicans
“I wanted to say that there is no greater compliment than to say that I don’t act like a political activist,” O’Connor told the Capital Journal. “These letters simply crystallized the thought of people who do not understand that judges do not have a constituency. If they bring their politics into the courtroom, they do not deserve to wear a robe.”
With that in mind, it wasn’t a hard decision for O’Connor to join a up-to-date nationwide effort called the Alliance to Protect Judicial Independence.
The group of more than 40 former state chief justices, brought together by the nonprofit Keep Our Republic, plans to promote civics education and “protect the constitutional balance envisioned by the Founders,” according to a press release announcing the group.
While vigorous judges are ethically obligated to be impartial and cautious in expressing their views to the public, an alliance of former judges has a different power.
“We are liberated from this because we are no longer judges and we can speak up,” O’Connor said.
An open letter also published by the alliance highlights the importance of judges responding to the rule of law in a much different way than elected officials serving in a particular district or area. Judges are also fighting attacks by those who see the justice system as “just another political branch.”
“Such attacks undermine the integrity of the rule of law and threaten the promise of equal justice,” the letter says.
Attacks on the justice system can come in the form of physical attacks, but O’Connor said verbal attacks intended to discredit a judge’s integrity or pressure judges to rule a certain way have a risky impact on the entire system.
“I think there’s a point in our leaders stoking the idea that judges are biased, that judges are corrupt, that judges don’t judge according to the law… It could be an incentive for people to intensify that view, and that can take many forms,” O’Connor said.
While she said criticism from people dissatisfied with a particular decision or conviction “is part of the job,” those with a pulpit to spread negative views about the justice system more broadly should not work to destroy it so comprehensively.
“I’m talking about people who have a platform who use it to denigrate the judiciary and single out one judge for his ruling, but they do it repeatedly and it undermines the public’s faith in the judiciary,” O’Connor said.
The former president of the Supreme Court said that the alliance’s plan is to educate and restore respect for the justice system, which is most often forgotten during elections.
She said ballot “throwaway” – when voters don’t vote for specific candidates because they rank lower on the ballot or are seemingly less significant – is a sedate problem in judicial races. Because judges are not able to campaign in the same way as, for example, a governor or state representative, they are not seen as often and may often be perceived as less significant.
“I’ll tell you, most people don’t have any contact with the justice system, they don’t care, but they don’t understand the extent to which judges impact their lives,” O’Connor said.
It’s good when a person doesn’t have to go to trial or deal with a divorce or custody battle, but O’Connor said everyone has a connection to someone who has had to deal with such issues.
In addition to more common issues such as redistricting and constitutional challenges, this shows the key role of the courts, she added.
“It’s extremely important for people, even if they don’t end up in divorce court themselves. It’s extremely important for the good of the community to have a qualified judge in this position,” she said.
Politics, judges and 2026
Ohio judges face a different challenge. One thing “I despise,” O’Connor said: an Ohio law that requires political affiliation for Supreme Court justices and appellate court nominees.
O’Connor was the chief justice when the up-to-date rules were introduced, and she said former state Rep. Bill Seitz asked her about it while urging the decision.
“This was the result of the loss of some Republican judges,” she said. “(Seitz) talked to me about it, I said, ‘That’s not a good idea,’ but the legislator did it.”
The move to add party affiliation to even a few judicial races “reduces the independence of the judiciary because it then makes it in people’s minds that the person is political,” O’Connor argues.
While some have argued that putting political parties on the ballot helps inform voters about the legal philosophies and thought processes of judges, judges in the alliance believe that the push to introduce politics into the justice system will only make it more hard for the system to work as intended.
O’Connor pointed to political leaders, public discourse and the media as sources of politicization of the judiciary and said it “really shouldn’t matter.”
“There is the media, but there are also dissatisfied citizens who will create the belief that the judge made the decision and their politics was involved, and that, in a nutshell, is the problem,” she said.
But with the 2026 election approaching, widespread political division in the U.S. is leading to a greater movement for change, according to the retired chief justice.
“There’s something about what’s going on in America that people are… I won’t say it’s just one thing, it’s a different motivation for different people,” O’Connor said. “But it doesn’t matter: ‘We have to do something, we can’t let this continue.'”
As for her politics, O’Connor readily admits that “this is not the Republican Party I joined all those years ago.”
“Here’s the biggest difference: There was a compromise; it wasn’t a dirty word,” she said. “And people were willing to compromise and come together and talk to each other in a civilized tone, both publicly and privately, and that disappeared.”
The Alliance Working to Ensure an Independent Judiciary and Public Education is “energized” to take on this role in the up-to-date year. An energy he doesn’t see in the general government and the Republican majority.
“I would like to see Republicans regain their backbone and get back to what I believe is their moral responsibility, not only constitutionally, but morally, and that’s just not happening,” O’Connor said.
She said members of Congress have “abdicated their role in so many areas.”
“I’ve talked to individual members of Congress and they say the same thing, that they don’t agree with what’s going on, and my response is, ‘So do something, stand up and speak up,’” she said.
To that end, O’Connor says he plans to spend the next year of retirement working on behalf of voters and his colleagues in the justice system.
“Instead of just complaining, we do something,” she said.
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