State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Filling The Potholes Of Pretextual Traffic Stops: A Better Road Forward For Ohio, Jordan Weeks

Cleveland State Law Review

The Fourth Amendment was one of the driving forces behind the United States Revolution. This Amendment generally protects individuals against “unreasonable” searches and seizures. But what does “reasonable” mean in the context of a traffic stop?

In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court in Whren v. United States tried answering this question. In so doing, the Court determined that pretextual traffic stops are “reasonable.” Pretextual traffic stops occur where an officer stops a vehicle and cites a lawful reason for the stop, yet the underlying reason is unlawful. The Whren Court determined that an officer’s intent is completely irrelevant to whether …

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: The Court's Forgotten Virtue, Camille Pollutro

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article recommends a shift in constitutional interpretation that requires the existence of respect for the class at issue when a fundamental right is being considered under the narrow, historical deeply rooted test of the Fourteenth Amendment. By focusing on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, this Article highlights that the class at issue—women—are having their fundamental rights decided for them by the legal sources of 1868. In applying this strict and narrow historical deeply rooted test, the Court fails to consider the lack of respect and autonomy that women had in 1868. To the Court, if twenty-eight out …

The Anti-Constitutionality Of The Deeply Rooted Test In Dobbs V. Jackson, Reginald Oh

Cleveland State Law Review

The deeply rooted in history test used by Justice Alito in Dobbs v. Jackson to overturn Roe v. Wade is anti-constitutional. In Dobbs, Alito concluded that, because a majority of states in 1868 criminalized abortion, abortion is not deeply rooted in history, and is therefore not a fundamental liberty under the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. However, relying on state laws in 1868 to interpret constitutional text not only has no basis in the Constitution, it goes against the fundamental nature of the Constitution as an integrated whole. What I call the Integrated Constitution is based on Chief Justice John …

Taking The Gavel Away From The Executive Branch: The Indeterminate Sentencing Scheme Under S.B. 201 Is Ripe For Review And Unconstitutional, Jessica Crtalic

Cleveland State Law Review

In 2019, Senate Bill 201, also known as the Reagan Tokes Act, reintroduced an indeterminate sentencing scheme in Ohio whereby sentences are assigned in the form of a range. Under this sentencing scheme, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, through the parole board, has discretion to retain an inmate past the presumptive release date. This fails to afford the accused their guaranteed right to a jury trial, improperly places judiciary power in the hands of the executive branch, and scrutinizes the violation of due process such that the defendant is being denied a fair hearing and notice. Not only …

Ending The Economic War Among States, Nathan Altstadt

Cleveland State Law Review

The United States is under siege; however, the cause is not a foreign adversary. Rather, infighting among states to attract and retain big businesses is jeopardizing the Nation’s economic prosperity.

States compete for businesses, using tax incentives, hoping to capitalize on the benefits these businesses represent. Benefits include improved job growth numbers, a future increase in tax revenue, or, simply, elevated political clout. While competition can lead to a more efficient use of resources, unregulated competition between states for businesses does not illustrate this theory. A national auction for a business, where states are blind to rival offers, may, and …

A Constitutional Theory Of Territoriality: The Case Of Puerto Rico, Joel Colón-Ríos, Yaniv Roznai

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article offers an analysis of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States that, unlike most of the existing literature, goes beyond discussions of the jurisprudence of U.S. courts and avoids providing merely descriptive or justificatory accounts. Using the tools of constitutional theory, we seek to describe the nature of what we call the “basic structure of territoriality,” the way that structure reproduces itself, and the possibility of its replacement. The basic structure of territoriality, we argue, is comprised by ten fundamental legal rules and five principles. Although those principles are not legally enforceable, they inform in important …

Land Of The Free, If You Can Afford It: Reforming Mayor's Courts In Ohio, Lucia Lopez-Hisijos

Cleveland State Law Review

Unlike most states in America, Ohio has a unique system of punishing minor misdemeanors and ordinance violations through municipal institutions called mayor’s courts. In 2017, Ohio had 295 of these courts, and they heard nearly 300,000 cases. But these are not normal courts. Ohio’s mayor’s courts do not conduct ability to pay hearings and can jail defendants who fail to pay court fines. With the author’s original research into Ohio’s mayor’s courts, this Note argues that these institutions can function like modern-day debtor’s prisons and violate indigent defendants’ constitutional right to Due Process. Ultimately, this Note proposes a model bill …

An Open Letter To The Ohio Supreme Court: Setting A Uniform Standard On Anders Briefs, Matthew D. Fazekas

Cleveland State Law Review

Attorneys are faced with an ethical dilemma when they represent indigent defendants who wish to appeal a criminal sentence, but that appeal would be frivolous. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court, in Anders v. California, introduced a procedure protecting the rights of indigent defendants that balanced the ethical concerns of an attorney forced to file a frivolous appeal. In 2000, the Court in Smith v. Robbins held that the states can set their own procedure for the aforementioned ethical dilemma, so long as it protects the rights of indigent defendants in compliance with the Fourteenth Amendment. This has …

A Call To Clarify The "Scope Of Authority" Question Of Qualified Immunity, Pat Fackrell

Cleveland State Law Review

It is no secret the doctrine of qualified immunity is under immense scrutiny. Distinguished jurists and scholars at all levels have criticized the doctrine of qualified immunity, some calling for it to be reconsidered or overruled entirely.

Amidst this scrutiny lies uncertainty in the doctrine’s application. Specifically, the federal courts of appeal are split three ways on the question of whether an official exceeding the official’s scope of authority under state law at the time of the alleged constitutional violation can successfully assert qualified immunity. Some courts of appeal do not require the official to demonstrate he acted within the …

Home Rule In Ohio: General Laws, Conflicts, And The Failure Of The Courts To Protect The Ohio Constitution, Matthew Mahoney

Cleveland State Law Review

The Home Rule Amendment to Ohio’s Constitution vest with municipalities the power to legislate on issues of most concern to that locality. Ideally, the concept of home rule creates shared powers between the state and the municipality. However, in Ohio, such is not the case. Instead, the state has almost complete control despite the home rule constitutional amendment. Although home rule is complicated historically and practically with many working parts between the legislature and the municipality, what is clear is that the courts play a substantial role in the doctrine’s application. The court’s role is difficulty considering the competing interests, …

Ohio's Modern Courts Amendment Must Be Amended: Why And How, Richard S. Walinski, Mark D. Wagoner Jr.

Cleveland State Law Review

A 1968 amendment to the Ohio Constitution granted the Supreme Court of Ohio the authority to promulgate “rules governing practice and procedure” for Ohio courts. The amendment also provided that “[a]ll laws in conflict with such rules shall be of no further force or effect after such rules have taken effect” and that no rule may “abridge, enlarge, or modify any substantive right.”

Although the amendment was explicit about automatic repeal of existing laws, it says nothing about whether the General Assembly may legislate on a procedural matter after a court rule takes effect. That silence has caused enduring confusion. …

Stuck In Ohio's Legal Limbo, How Many Mistrials Are Too Many Mistrials?: Exploring New Factors That Help A Trial Judge In Ohio Know Whether To Exercise Her Authority To Dismiss An Indictment With Prejudice, Especially Following Repeated Hung Juries, Samantha M. Cira

Cleveland State Law Review

Multiple mistrials following validly-prosecuted trials are becoming an increasingly harsh reality in today’s criminal justice system. Currently, the Ohio Supreme Court has not provided any guidelines to help its trial judges know when to make the crucial decision to dismiss an indictment with prejudice following a string of properly-declared mistrials, especially due to repeated hung juries. Despite multiple mistrials that continue to result in no conviction, criminal defendants often languish behind bars, suffering detrimental psychological harm and a loss of personal freedom as they remain in “legal limbo” waiting to retry their case. Furthermore, continuously retrying defendants cuts against fundamental …

Supplemental Pay Or Supplemental Power?: Why The Ohio General Assembly's Compensation Structure Unconstitutionally Centralizes Power In The General Assembly Leadership, Frank Camardo

Cleveland State Law Review

In the Ohio House and Senate, committee chairpersons and other select members of legislative committees receive a supplemental salary, in addition to their base legislator pay, for their service on the committee. The Ohio Constitution, however, mandates that legislator pay be fixed by law (hereinafter “Fixed Compensation Provision”) and that no changes to compensation take place during the term (hereinafter “No Change Provision”). Because the Speaker of the House and the Senate President have the power to discretionarily appoint and remove committee chairpersons during the term, compensation necessarily changes during the term of a removed chairperson. Such in-term changes violate …

State Constitutional Prohibitions On Special Laws , Justin R. Long

Cleveland State Law Review

Since the nineteenth century, most states have had constitutional clauses prohibiting “special laws.” These clauses were ratified to protect the people of each state from domination by narrow economic elites, who would use their economic power to win grants of privilege from the state legislatures. To fight the corrupt favors garnered by private interests in this way, state constitutional drafters wrote clauses requiring their legislatures to pass only “general laws” that would apply equally to all members of the regulated class. For a brief period, these clauses were enforced in the courts—but more to protect economic elites than the democratic …

Municipal Predatory Lending Regulation In Ohio: The Disproportionate Impact Of Preemption In Ohio's Cities, Brett Altier

Cleveland State Law Review

Whether in the case of predatory lending or other issues that will differ from location to location, municipalities should continue to protect their cities by exercising their power under the Home Rule Amendment to enforce regulations not in direct conflict with Ohio law. Even though the Framers of the Home Rule Amendment intended to protect municipal power by ensuring that only those ordinances in actual conflict would be voided, Ohio courts have denied municipalities their Home Rule police power by applying a conflict by implication test, contributing to the housing crisis still plaguing Ohio's cities. While Ohio courts have made …

The Unconstitutionality Of Oklahoma's Sq 755 And Other Provisions Like It That Bar State Courts From Considering International Law, Penny M. Venetis

Cleveland State Law Review

This paper will discuss SQ 755's many legal deficiencies, focusing primarily on its constitutional infirmities. First, SQ 755 is a clear violation of the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. The prohibition on looking to international law requires that Oklahoma courts disregard U.S. treaty obligations, and the law of nations (also known as customary international law), which are all binding on American courts. Second, SQ 755 unconstitutionally limits a state's duty to give full faith and credit to the judicial decisions of other states. The law is clear that no state has the authority to condition its …

Intended And Unintended Consequences: The 2006 Fair Minimum Wage Amendment Of The Ohio Constitution , Jason R. Bristol, Ashley A. Weaver, Thomas A. Downie

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article first provides a brief overview of federal and Ohio minimum wage law. The Article then examines the text of the 2006 Amendment. The third section delves into the provisions of HB 690 and the differences between HB 690 and the Amendment. The final section explores litigation issues arising from these differences.

Ohio Charter Schools And Educational Privatization: Undermining The Legacy Of The State Constitution's Common School Approach, Nathaniel J. Mcdonald

Cleveland State Law Review

Part II of this Note briefly discusses the current state of public education in Ohio and outlines the DeRolph litigation and its implications. Part III focuses on the “thorough and efficient” education clause in the Ohio Constitution and analyzes its meaning from an historical perspective. Part IV addresses the theory behind the privatization of education in general, briefly discusses the history of privatization, and introduces different types of educational privatization in Ohio. Part V compares the ideology behind the education clause in the Ohio Constitution with privatization ideology and concludes that the two ideologies are in conflict. Part VI discusses …

The Ohio Constitution On The Occasion Of Its Bicentennial, Kevin Francis O'Neill

Cleveland State Law Review

This symposium issue of the Cleveland State Law Review publishes the papers that were presented at a conference marking the bicentennial of the Ohio Constitution. That conference, held here at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in April 2003, examined the history and assessed the vitality of-our state constitution. The conference was conceived and its planning was supervised by our Dean, Steven H. Steinglass, who has devoted significant scholarly attention to the Ohio Constitution. In light of my own endeavors in state constitutional law, both as a lawyer and as a scholar, I gladly assisted Dean Steinglass in organizing the conference. In …

Ohio's Constitutions: An Historical Perspective, Barbara A. Terzian

Cleveland State Law Review

This article takes us from 1802 to the present, through two state constitutions and four constitutional conventions. The author shows how the crucible of history shaped and reshaped the Ohio Constitution - from early struggles, on the very threshold of statehood, between Jeffersonian Republicans and Federalists; to the pressures exerted in their respective eras by Abolitionists, Progressives, and Prohibitionists; to the quests for suffrage by blacks and women; to the economic impact of the Civil War and the growing industrialization of subsequent decades. Terzian performs this survey with careful attention to the political dynamics at each of Ohio's constitutional conventions …

The New Judicial Federalism In Ohio: The First Decade , Robert F. Williams

Cleveland State Law Review

There are a number of tentative conclusions that may be reached based on this selective analysis of the Ohio Supreme Court's first decade of experience with the New Judicial Federalism. First, the court is to be commended for taking the first steps toward recognizing the Ohio Constitution as a document of independent political and legal force. The Arnold decision, together with the others discussed in this article, serve to alert the lower bench, the bar, the media, and students and professors to the potential contained within state constitutions. Next, to the extent that there is inconsistency to be detected in …

The Failure Of Ohio's Drug Treatment Initiative, Tamara Karel

Cleveland State Law Review

In the summer of 2002, proponents of Issue 1 "The Ohio Drug Treatment Initiative," (hereafter referred to as the Initiative) succeeded in getting the proposal on the November ballot. The Initiative proposed an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would have required courts to approve requests for treatment when made by eligible nonviolent drug offenders. The Amendment sought to (1) allocate a fixed amount of the state's General Revenue Fund to pay for the opening and operating of new treatment centers, (2) limit prison sentences for users and possessors to ninety days, and (3) provide for the sealing and expungement …

State Constitutional Law, New Judicial Federalism, And The Rehnquist Court , Shirley S. Abrahamson

Cleveland State Law Review

Today, I believe, we find ourselves at an interesting crossroads. Over the past few decades, under the banner of new judicial federalism, many state courts have asserted a role for state constitutions in the protection of individual liberties and the resolution of legal disputes. This outburst of state constitutional fervor, however, has been met with great criticism from different camps, all believing that the uniformity provided by our federal constitution as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court should guide state court decisions and especially state constitutional interpretation. At the same time, the very ability of state courts to decide state …

Ohio Joins The New Judicial Federalism Movement: A Little To-Ing And A Little Fro-Ing , Marianna Brown Bettman

Cleveland State Law Review

Bettman analyzes Ohio Supreme Court decisions construing the Speech, Press, Search and Seizure, Free Exercise, and Establishment Clause analogues of the Ohio Constitution. Here in Ohio, she concludes, New Judicial Federalism remains in its infancy. The Ohio Supreme Court is still struggling with the fundamentals of state constitutional interpretation. It remains heavily dependant on federal methodology when construing analogous provisions of the state constitution. Bettman gives us the unique perspective of a law professor who previously served as an Ohio appellate court judge. This perspective sensitizes her to the current political make-up of the Ohio Supreme Court. Today's court, she …

Ohio Constitutional Interpretation, Richard B. Saphire

Cleveland State Law Review

Saphire provides a detailed review and critique of the Ohio Supreme Court's interpretive methodology since 1984. This examination, superb in itself, is rendered all the more valuable by Saphire's inclusion of two other discussions - one placing the Ohio experience in a larger historical context, the other probing the legitimacy and limits of New Judicial Federalism. Saphire concludes that the Ohio Supreme Court's commitment to state constitutional independence has been marked by inconsistency and ambivalence. This trend will continue, he suggests, until the court develops and articulates a theory of Ohio constitutional interpretation - something that it has so far …

Separation Of Powers In Ohio: A Critical Analysis, Curtis Rodebush

Cleveland State Law Review

The goal of this Article is to provide a basic framework from which to begin a separation of powers analysis under the Ohio Constitution. In addition, this Article offers some insights into how a separation of powers controversy should be dissected and suggests some directions that Ohio courts should take in the future. Part I of this Article presents useful background information on the separation of powers doctrine, including its origin, its treatment in the Ohio Constitution, predominant theories of analysis, and relevant Ohio cases. Part II (A) hypothesizes a general approach with which to begin a separation of powers …

Of Disunity And Logrolling: Ohio's One-Subject Rule And The Very Evils It Was Designed To Prevent, Stephanie Hoffer, Travis Mcdade

Cleveland State Law Review

This article looks at the one-subject rule's history and significant jurisprudence with particular note of any rules that can be determined. Next, we address the court's use of the rule in the controversial case of State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. Sheward. Finally, we look at Amended Substitute Senate Bill No. 281-recently passed by the Ohio General Assembly-to determine if it will pass one-subject muster under recent jurisprudence.

Recalibrating Justiciability In Ohio Courts, Michael E. Solimine

Cleveland State Law Review

The term "separation of powers" does not appear in either the United States or Ohio Constitutions, but the concept has important implications for the adjudication of rights under both documents. In federal courts, litigants must possess certain characteristics, summarized under the rubric of "standing," to pursue such cases. To have standing, litigants traditionally must have suffered a concrete and ripe injury that was the result of the allegedly unlawful conduct. And even when those criteria are satisfied, cases that call for "political questions" to be resolved can be dismissed by federal judges. These limits to federal court authority are drawn …

Constitutional Common School, Molly O'Brien, Amanda Woodrum

Cleveland State Law Review

In this paper we turn to historical evidence as a beginning point for understanding the constitutional vision and values of the "thorough and efficient system of common schools" mandated by Article VI, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution. In Part II, we consider the early development of public schooling in America and the complex relationship between public education and religion. The inclusion of the educational provisions in the Constitution of 1851 represented a victory for the advocates of a non-sectarian, state operated system of schools that would encourage civic participation and avoid religious indoctrination In Part II, we address efforts …

Turn Down The Volume: The Constitutionality Of Ohio's Municipal Ordinances Regulating Sound From Car Stereo Systems, Stuart A. Laven

Cleveland State Law Review

This article will examine municipal ordinances criminalizing the emission of sound from car stereo systems in excess of proscribed limits, including the methods adopted to measure offending sound and the penalties imposed for violations, the Ohio (and certain non-Ohio) cases which have challenged the constitutionality of such ordinances, and certain constitutional aspects of such ordinances and their enforcement which have yet to be addressed.