An Ohio Supreme Court justice says she was talking judicial philosophy - not politics - when she addressed a Republican crowd about the court serving as a "backstop" for decisions made by GOP officeholders. Justice Judith L. French, an appointed Republican seeking to retain her seat in the Nov. 4 election, said her remarks at a GOP rally in Powell did not cross the ethical line that counsels judges to be cautious about partisan remarks.

An Ohio Supreme Court justice says she was talking judicial philosophy � not politics � when she addressed a Republican crowd about the court serving as a �backstop� for decisions made by GOP officeholders.

Justice Judith L. French, an appointed Republican seeking to retain her seat in the Nov. 4 election, said her remarks at a GOP rally in Powell did not cross the ethical line that counsels judges to be cautious about partisan remarks.

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At a Saturday event at which she introduced Republican Gov. John Kasich, French said, �I am a Republican and you should vote for me. You�re going to hear from your elected officials, and I see a lot of them in the crowd.

�Let me tell you something: The Ohio Supreme Court is the backstop for all those other votes you are going to cast.

�Whatever the governor does, whatever your state representative, your state senator does, whatever they do, we are the ones that will decide whether it is constitutional; we decide whether it�s lawful. We decide what it means, and we decide how to implement it in a given case.

�So, forget all those other votes if you don�t keep the Ohio Supreme Court conservative,� French said.

French explained her remarks yesterday, saying, �The policy decisions stay with the legislators, the policy makers. .?.?. I�m not going to support Republican legislation; I�m not going to support Democratic legislation. It�s not my role.

�I�m a backstop, no matter who you are,� she said. �No matter what party you are, if you want your policy decisions to not be second-guessed by the Ohio Supreme Court, you want a conservative Supreme Court. And that doesn�t have to mean Republican; it means conservative.�

French said she has given the same message to Democratic and union groups.

A note underlying part of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct states: �Judicial candidates have a special obligation to ensure the judicial system is viewed as fair, impartial and free from partisanship.�

But, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said that French�s remarks revealed she is overtly partisan.

�Justice French�s partisan remarks are outrageous and show a disturbing disregard for the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct,� he said in a statement.

�French, a Kasich appointee, has revealed that instead of acting as an impartial justice, she is a partisan political appointee that puts her Republican Party�s agenda above fairly interpreting and enforcing the law,� Redfern said.

Several legal-ethics experts and court-watchers contacted by The Dispatch declined to comment on French�s statements.

French, who joined the court on Jan. 1, 2013, to fill a vacancy, is opposed for election by Democrat John P. O�Donnell, a Cuyahoga County common pleas court judge.

A Sept. 15 Dispatch mail poll of 1,185 voters showed O�Donnell with a 6 percentage point lead over French.

French wrote the majority opinion in the 5-2 ruling this year in which the justices held that an alliance of liberals and conservatives lacked the standing to challenge the constitutionality of JobsOhio, Kasich�s privatized economic-development agency.

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlow