Posted by Anne Decker on Aug 18, 2021
The Ohio Supreme Court is Ohio's court of last resort.
Court cases in Ohio work their way through the courts as they are appealed: from municipal and common pleas court to the court of appeals and finally to the Ohio Supreme Court, says Justice Pat DeWine. DeWine told us that the Ohio Supreme Court hears only a fraction of the cases it is asked to. "In 2019, we had about 1,100 people who said, 'Please hear this case.' We accepted 43 of them. We're not looking for a case where the court of appeals below got it wrong. We're looking for a case with some issue that needs to be resolved for the benefit of the entire state." In addition, the Ohio Supreme Court hears death penalty appeals and cases of attorney discipline. To illustrate how the Ohio Supreme Court works, DeWine walked us through a case from Wooster where a floral shop lost its domain name to another floral shop which promptly redirected the address to her own website. The court found in favor of the new owner of the domain name. DeWine says the entire process took about two years. Why should we care what the Ohio Supreme Court does? DeWine says it's because the cases they hear impact our everyday lives. "By far the most important thing we do is to protect your individual rights and freedoms. I think that's really our most important goal."
 
Also at Monday's meeting, we presented scholarships to eleven non-traditional students in the amount of $1,000 each for degreed programs for fall 2021. These students are pursuing higher education in Accounting & Business Management, Zoology, Nursing, Paramedics, Medical Office Management and education. They will be attending Bluffton University, The Ohio State University – Lima, Rhodes State College and the University of Northwestern Ohio. Congratulations to each of them! We wish them all well with their educational pursuits. Currently, the program has awarded 1,106 scholarships for a total of $834,250.