AP: The challenge likely could be refiled.

[sabra]

That's the important thing to know right now...
<<SNIP>>
http://nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Ohio-Vote.html

Ohio Justice Throws Out Election Challenge
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court's chief justice on Thursday threw out a challenge to the state's presidential election results on a technicality, ruling that the request improperly challenged two separate election results.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer ruled that state law does not allow voters to challenge the results of more than one race in a single complaint. The challenge likely could be refiled.

The challenge before Moyer, filed Monday on behalf of 40 voters, included the results of the presidential race and of Moyer's race against a Cleveland municipal judge.

<</SNIP>>

[SueZhope]

1. They rush to get that info out

people just see the first part
Ohio Justice Throws Out Election Challenge

[RaulVB]

2. Yep...

That's why they present it that way.

[EFerrari]

8. Somewhere in this whole deal, I got more worried about the

AP than about the election. No way will they hold all that crime together this time.

But what to do about the AP? Newspapers get 80% of their so called hard news from them. That's going to be a tough one to crack.

[sabra]

3. Sad reality...

Hopefully we will also see soon, "Ohio Justice Finds For Plaintiff on Refile of Suit"!

[knowbody0]

4. moyer dismissed challenge to his own race?

[rzemanfl]

5. Some judicial ethics

I quit practicing law over eight years ago after 25 years because the profession had gotten so slimy. This is just another example. I am wondering though, whether the second claim was an attempt to force this guy to recuse himself or to set up an appeal. If the separate complaint requirement is legit, they should have known about that before they filed.

[texpatriot2004]

6. A couple of Questions

"If the separate complaint requirement is legit, they should have known about that before they filed." What does this mean?

What's your judicial background?

I am curious, I have noticed the "slimy" trend you speak of in respect to our judges. What, besides voting out those who are elected (an obvious challenge these days) is the recourse of the people? Is there any?

[Scout1071]

12. ANOTHER IMPORTANT QUESTION

Each time that I vote, I am expected to vote on judges that I know absolutely nothing about (knock on wood.) This time around, I decided that I was going to try to find out who the hell was on the ballot. So, I called the Dem Office in my state and asked....who the hell are these guys and how do I know if they are on our "side? Where can I get their records?" The response - "Exactly. Good question mam. I think that the only way to get that information is to contact the judge directly and ask to see a copy of their record."

Ummm...ya. Needless to say I was stunned. There has to be a better way to view their records and see exactly how they come down.

[rzemanfl]

19. Voting for Judges

Suggestions:

Look at their bio on the Court's web page and see how they took office. If they were appointed by someone you don't like, you probably wouldn't like them either.

Ask attorneys what they think, they will truly praise the good judges and damn the bad ones with faint praise.

Try to get access to Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis and run their names, see how often they are reversed.

[read the law first]

15. The general quality of judges has definitely dropped.

That's a fact after 17 years of observation. It won't be popular but in my experience the leading cause of this is the failure to select among the most qualified people for other reasons than merit.

[rzemanfl]

18. Attempt to respond to your questions.

I have since read that some Ohio lawyers think the separate complaint requirement is not legit (apparently there is no case law that supports it) only a word that is in the singular tense in the statute, but the attorneys would have read the statute and been aware of that. I think that joining the two claims was done in the hope the Justice would recuse himself, with knowledge of the risk of dismissal for combining the two cases, but you'd have to ask the folks that filed the case what their thinking was.

I have no judicial background, just practiced law for 25 years.

Most state court judges come to the bench by gubernatorial appointment. Most incumbent judges get re-elected. Judges tend to retire when the party they support has the governorship. Without reading the appellate decisions that arise from their cases one has to rely on the news media for any indication that a Judge may not be all one hoped for. I used a simple standard in the last election, namely that most of the Judges on the ballot had been appointed by Jeb Bush and were not worthy of my support. I have also voted against anyone on the Florida Supreme Court who sided with Bush in 2000.

[knowbody0]

7. former mortgage banking accountant

now a full time foster parent.

the greater good

[Verve]

9. So are you saying that basically they set up the judge. An appeal

is imminent and the judge knows it now that he did not recuse himself?

[bemis12]

10. There's nothing to appeal.

It was dismissed. It needs refiled. There's nothing to appeal, because there's no ruling.

[read the law first]

16. Actually, there's nowhere to appeal it to.

OSSC is the highest court in the state. The only "appeal" is a new action in federal court that says that the dismissal of the suit abridged a federal right. Of course, Rule 11 is a powerful deterent in federal court. You can't screw around like you can in a state court.

[rzemanfl]

20. Not really,

I think what I'm saying is that they were testing the Judge's ethics to see if he'd recuse himself and they'd get a more receptive Judge. I don't know enough about Ohio law to speculate whether there is an avenue of appeal. It sounds like the Chief Justice is God when it comes to these cases.

[read the law first]

14. without prejudice so that it can be brought again

He did not rule on the merits.

[Nypsychtrst]

11. Refiled????

We need a better lawyer!!!!

[pick_a_dilly]

17. Nypsychtrst -- you try too hard . . .

go back to FREErepukenic . . .

and get a better psy.

[read the law first]

13. I read the complaint. It did say to throw out the Chief Justice race

I read the actual complaint. It did ask for the Chief Justice race to be thrown out and the other candidate to be elected as well as the Presidential race. So the posts that say that the Judge was confused about the Complaint are contradicted by the actual Complaint. I think that maybe the "news" post was an Onion type satire.

I'm not admitted in Ohio so I don't know if the other part about allowing only a single challenge per complaint is correct or not.