Justice Jennifer Brunner Announces Run in 2022 for Chief Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Davey, 614-886-8658, chris@daveygroup.us
Justice Jennifer Brunner announces she will run for Chief Justice in 2022
‘Steady and principled leadership of the state’s highest court is essential’
COLUMBUS - With a vision for shaping the administration of justice to improve the lives of all Ohioans, Justice Jennifer Brunner of the Supreme Court of Ohio today announced that she will run for Chief Justice of Ohio in the 2022 election.
“I’m running for Chief Justice because justice matters for every Ohioan. Steady and principled leadership of the state’s highest court is essential to helping Ohioans realize justice in their everyday lives,” Brunner said at a virtual news conference. “I know that courts can do good things for people—protect their health, safety, and welfare—with fairness, equality, and respect. And I am committed to doing this every day now and as Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.”
Brunner was elected as an Associate Justice in November 2020, defeating incumbent Justice Judith French 55.3% to 44.7% garnering 2.69 million votes statewide.
Previously she served as a judge of the Tenth District Court of Appeals and the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. As a trial court judge Brunner founded the county’s adult felony drug court, known as the TIES (Treatment is Essential to Success) Program, now in its sixteenth year of operation.
“Administrative and policy leadership of the court is not about an ideology of who should win and who should lose,” Brunner said in an email to supporters posted on her campaign Website. “It is about a belief and understanding that courts are only as effective as people believe them to be. Good judges and fair courts can make all the difference in the confidence Ohioans have in their judiciary. And that confidence makes our courts more effective.”
In addition to her judicial service, Brunner has considerable experience in the executive branch and in the private sector.
She was elected Ohio’s first woman Secretary of State on Nov. 7, 2006 and held the office for four years. While in that office, she became the first Ohioan to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award from the bipartisan board of the JFK Library and Museum in Boston.
Brunner has 17 years of private law practice experience and has provided rule of law technical expertise to the government of the Republic of Serbia, election observation in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and rule of law instruction at the bar association of Sri Lanka through the U.S. Department of State’s Agency for International Development (USAID), gaining a greater understanding of the importance of a strong judiciary to preserving peace and growing democracy through the rule of law.
A native of Springfield, Ohio, Justice Brunner has been married to Rick Brunner since 1978. They have 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren.
Under the Ohio Constitution, the Chief Justice is a separately elected official serving for a six year term. The current Chief Justice, Maureen O’Connor, was elected in 2010 and reelected in 2016 and is barred by the constitutional age limit from seeking a third term when her current term expires on Dec. 31, 2022.
In addition to deciding cases with the other six Justices, the Chief Justice has the power to shape the administration of justice and the practice of law in the state, as the Ohio Constitution provides that the Chief Justice exercises the power of superintendence of the Ohio judicial system “in accordance with rules promulgated by the Supreme Court.” In addition, among other responsibilities, the Chief Justice decides on motions for disqualification for lower court judges, appoints the judges of the Ohio Court of Claims, and assigns visiting judges to hear cases.
Photo of Justice Jennifer Brunner (lo res) can be downloaded here.
Headshot with no background of Justice Jennifer Brunner (lo res) can be downloaded here.
For a high resolution image of either of the above photos of Justice Brunner, please request by email.
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