Ohio Supreme Court

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a law firm submitted too broad of a records request for data about residences where children were found to have elevated levels of lead in their bodies, the Associated Press' Andrew Welsh-Huggins reports.

The court ruled that Lipson O'Shea Legal Group's public records request was too specific and the Board of Health couldn't comply with the request without revealing the identity of the children. The law firm asked for documentation of all homes “'where a minor child was found to have elevated blood lead levels.'"

The Ohio Supreme Court chief justice doesn't pick opinion writers. Instead, it's marbles.

The Times Reporter, out of Philadelphia, Ohio, reports on a talk given by a new justice on the Ohio Supreme Court: "When the seven justices of the Supreme Court meet, [Justice Judith L. French] said they listen to oral arguments from both sides. Then they go into a small conference room with seats personally assigned in order of their seniority on the court. Beginning with the chief justice, each of the justices takes their turn giving their thoughts and opinions — without interruption, she explained. That can produce what she called “robust” debate. The justices then vote regarding the case, and one of the justices is chosen to write a majority opinion about the decision.

On the United States Supreme Court, the opinion writer is chosen by the chief justice, she said.

'In Ohio we have marbles,' she said, adding that each justice has a number on a marble that is selected. Anyone can write a concurring or dissenting opinion."