What the Supreme Court’s decisions mean for Ohioans

Recent major U.S. Supreme Court decisions involve topics familiar to Ohio politicians: transgender athletes participating in sports, birthright civil rights and campaign finance laws.

On Tuesday, the high court issued three rulings following Monday’s massacre.

Transgender athletes

Justices have ruled that states can ban transgender athletes from participating in school sports.

Ohio already has a similar, broader law in place.

Lawsuit against part Ohio House Bill 68controversial laws preventing LGBTQ+ minors from accessing care such as hormone-blocking medications, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and certain mental health services are being considered in the Ohio Supreme Court.

The bill also prohibits transgender athletes from participating in middle school, high school or college athletics on teams consistent with their identity.

While the Supreme Court’s ruling was not surprising, it worries members of the LGBTQ+ community about future decisions.

“This just creates a slippery slope that will result in more laws targeting children like mine,” said the father of a transgender child, Sam Shim.

For two years, transgender children and teenagers in Ohio have been banned from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity.

Before the ban, there were only six transgender athletes who had to follow state athletic association rules.

Shim said this has made LGBTQ+ youth feel isolated because school sports are meant to serve the community.

“I think it says kids like mine are not or are not welcome in schools,” my dad said. “I think it’s very scary.”

State Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, wrote Ohio’s ban and celebrated the ruling.

“This creates equality across the country for young women who deserve fairness in their athletic competitions,” Click said.

He added that he expected such a verdict.

“There are boys and some men who want to look like girls and identify with them, and they tend to dominate, which is certainly not fair,” Click added.

There is no widespread evidence that boys who identify as transgender have participated in girls’ sports, Shim said, but Click argued that this ruling would prevent such situations from happening.

The Republican wants a federal ban, not leaving the decision to the states.

“The biology doesn’t change from state to state,” Click said.

Shim worries that judges have set the stage for further discrimination, he said.

“If they target children, they will target transgender adults next, and then they will target the next segment,” he said.

Citizenship by birth

Judges protected birthright citizenship – the idea that if you were born in the US, you automatically became an American citizen.

In a blow to President Donald Trump, the court struck down his citizenship restrictions.

In 2025, the president signed an executive order declaring that children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents or those on short-lived visas are not true citizens.

Now that it has been overturned, local leaders like Global Cleveland’s Joe Cimperman are delighted.

“His ruling gave a lot of people a sense of relief,” Cimperman told me.

“Moreover, it gave people who are international visitors, immigrants and refugees here in the United States a sense that they belonged here and that the Supreme Court noticed them and recognized that they had protection under the law.”

Global Cleveland is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping and welcoming immigrants.

Ohio Statehouse Republicans criticized the rulings.

“I don’t think it makes sense in any civilized society to say that people can come here and release their child and come home, but that child is now an American citizen and can influence our elections and can run for office and one day become president,” Click said.

Haitian TPS

While Cimperman hailed the birthright ruling as a victory, the judges are allowing Trump to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants who came to the U.S. legally.

Approximately 15,000 Haitians call Springfield home. When TPS expires, tens of thousands of Haitians will lose their jobs, be forced to leave the country, or lose their documents.

“When you have a community of law-abiding, faithful, church-going, tax-paying people who came here legally, and they’re told they have to go home, home… They’re doing great here,” Cimperman said. “People shouldn’t be surprised that immigrants feel fear and anxiety.”

Gov. Mike DeWine, unlike most GOP leaders, has been defending the Haitian community for years.

“I hope the Trump administration reconsiders this. Look at what this will do to states like Ohio. In Ohio, Haitians work primarily in manufacturing. They also work in the food industry. But if you look at where they work across the country, probably the most important area they work in is health care. It’s Haitians who are many times taking care of your mom or dad with Alzheimer’s, taking care of family members who may be in nursing home facilities. And to claim that this is it’s not in our self-interest to take everything down,” DeWine told our news partners at CNN.

Ohio Republican U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno opposes Congress extending TPS.

“There’s a reason it’s called TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS (TPS),” Moreno wrote in and the degradation of our social safety nets.”

Cimperman calls on politicians to think about what is happening to children.

“There are many Haitian mothers and fathers whose children were born here. Today confirms that children can stay here,” he said.

“The mothers and fathers, by decision made a few days ago, say they have to leave. So now we will make these children orphans from the state of Ohio.”

Ballots

The court allowed mail-in votes to be counted even if they are received after polls close, contrary to Ohio Republicans’ expectations.

In a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that states can set their own grace periods for vote counting, as long as ballots are mailed before Election Day.

GOP state lawmakers preemptively passed legislation eliminating the waiting period because they believed SCOTUS would side with them and require all votes to be taken on election night.

Campaign financing

The court set limits on the expenditure of political party committees on cooperation with candidates.

The case was first filed by Republicans such as Vice President J.D. Vance, who was then a candidate for the Ohio Senate.

Since Watergate, there has been a ceiling on what party committees can spend on campaign coordination. As a result, money has flooded super PACs, which have no spending limits.

The ruling could change the shape of campaign fundraising this year.

Police information

Judges have ruled that law enforcement’s apply of cell phone location data obtained through a “geofence warrant” could constitute an unjustified search and seizure.

Often, when the police are searching for a suspect, data from other citizens is collected, even if they have no connection with the crime.

Other cases

The justices ruled that Trump could remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission solely for political reasons. This ruling paves the way for him to transform the federal government.

However, they blocked the president’s efforts to fire the Federal Reserve governor. The justices noted the Fed’s long tradition of independence.

The court also rejected Trump’s appeal in a defamation case involving columnist E. Jean Carroll. The president asked the court to overturn the ruling that found Carroll sexually abused and defamed him. Since the Supreme Court is not intervening in the case, he is still obligated to pay her $5 million.

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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.