Justices Judith French, Sharon Kennedy Vote to Uphold Law That Erodes Local Control of Public Schools

COLUMBUS — As Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly continue to take away local control from communities, they can rely on Justice Sharon Kennedy and Justice Judith French to continue serving as their “backstop” in upholding their extremist agenda.

“Yesterday’s ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court is one more example of how Justice Judith French and Justice Sharon Kennedy routinely serve as a rubber stamp for whatever extremist law that Statehouse Republicans can shove through our gerrymandered legislature,” said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Kirstin Alvanitakis. “With their votes to uphold the state’s school takeover law, Kennedy and French have demonstrated once again how they put politics over people.”

In 2014, French told Republican rallygoers, “The Ohio Supreme Court is the backstop” for GOP state officials and encouraged voters to “keep the Ohio Supreme Court conservative.”

Over the past six years, Kennedy and French have consistently voted to uphold extremist laws as constitutional and protected the wealthy and well-connected over working Ohioans.

• In 2015, Kennedy and French voted in favor of a failed, for-profit charter school operator and allowed it to keep property that was purchased with taxpayer dollars.

• In 2019, Kennedy and French voted to uphold a 2016 law that attacked local communities’ home-rule authority and struck down the city of Cleveland’s “Fannie Lewis” law that was designed to protect jobs for local workers.

• Earlier this year, Kennedy and French sided with a restaurant owner who fired a seven-year employee after she complained he was underreporting her income to the state.

 

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