On October 14, U.S. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson, an Obama appointee, upheld the 2021 law that said Ohio general election ballots should carry the party labels of candidates for State Supreme Court Justice. Brunner v LaRose, n.d., 4:23cv-2180. Ohio has long held partisan primaries for Supreme Court elections. But until 2021, even though the parties had nominees for that office, the law didn’t allow the party label on the November ballot for those elections.
The plaintiff, Jennifer Brunner, is a Democratic Ohio Supreme Court Justice running for re-election next month. She filed the lawsuit in 2023. An irony is that this year, Democrats in Ohio are leading their Republican opponents for Governor and U.S. Senator. So it is somewhat plausible that Brunner will have an easier path to re-election because “Democrat” will now be next to her name on the November ballot.