Justice Sharon L. Kennedy was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio Tuesday, for a term beginning on January 1, 2023. Justice Kennedy first joined the court in 2012 having been elected to fill an unexpired term.  She was reelected to the court in 2014 and 2020. She becomes the second woman to serve as Chief Justice.

  “As Chief Justice I look forward to working with Ohioans, community leaders, former Justice Paul Pfeifer, Executive Director of the Ohio Judicial Conference, judicial associations, and bar associations to build collaborative problem-solving teams to find local solutions, for local problems,” Justice Kennedy stated.

Justice Kennedy is the 154th justice and the ninth woman to serve on the state high court and will become the eleventh chief justice. Since joining the court, she has led a statewide initiative and annual summit to ensure that justice-involved veterans, suffering from the invisible wounds of war receive the treatment they need and deserve. 

Kennedy came to the Supreme Court from the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division, where, as the administrative judge she made the timely resolution of cases a priority.

“As I promised Ohioans, on day one we will begin ensuring the timely resolution of cases and that Ohio courts are transparent and will endeavor to help the marginalized reach their full potential.”

Justice Kennedy’s unexpired term as an associate justice will be filled by an appointee of Governor Mike DeWine. 

Justices Re-Elected to the Court

Associate Justices Pat Fischer and Pat DeWine were also re-elected to the Court on Tuesday.

Justice Patrick F. Fischer will enter his second term on the Supreme Court of Ohio.  He had previously been elected to two terms on the First District Court of Appeals covering Hamilton County. 

Justice Fischer was in private law practice for almost 30 years. He has served as the president of the Ohio State Bar Association and the OSBA’s Board of Governors. He has served on the Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism and the Cincinnati Bar Association’s Ethics and Professionalism Committees.  A supporter of the Lawyer to Lawyer mentoring program, Justice Fischer is a graduate of the Harvard Law School.

Justice R. Patrick DeWine also enters his second term on the Court after serving on the First District Court of Appeals and the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

After law school Justice DeWine was a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and then practiced law for 13 years at KMK law in Cincinnati.   Justice DeWine has also served his community on the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners and a member of the Cincinnati City Council.

Justice DeWine graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in the top ten percent of his class. He is committed to furthering the rule of law through education, serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law for the past ten years. 

Justice Fischer and DeWine’s new terms will begin in January 2023 and run through 2028.