Who is running for the appeals court in Franklin County?
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Franklin County voters will decide races for two of four seats on the general election ballot for the Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals — a court that possesses great power over the county and the entire state.
The 10th District court hears appeals cases from Franklin County courts, but because of its location in the state capital, cases involving state agencies often end up there and the court’s decisions set important statewide precedents.
Of the eight elected judge positions on the appeals court, four seats are up for grabs and two races are contested. Democrat Kristin Boggs is facing off against Republican Laura Nesbitt. And Republican Keith McGrath who was appointed to fill a vacancy on the court in April is running to keep his seat on the bench against Democrat Carly Edelstein.
Two candidates are running unopposed: Julia L. Dorrian and State Rep. David Leland, both Democrats.
Previously, judicial elections in Ohio were not partisan, but this year for the first time, voters will see party affiliations next to candidates’ names for appeals courts and the Ohio Supreme Court.
In Ohio, appeals court judges are elected to six-year terms. The appeals court judges are paid $169,075 annually.
Below is information on the candidates in contested races, including some of their experience, information they provided in an interview, their results from the Columbus Bar Association preference poll and how many stars they received from the Columbus Bar Association’s Judiciary Screening Committee.
The Columbus Bar Association conducted a poll of Central Ohio attorneys, and nearly 400 cast ballots on which judicial candidates they prefer.
The nonpartisan Judiciary Screening Committee rates judges based on their qualifications, including education, experience, training, character and temperament, according to their bylaws. This year, the committee issued star ratings on a scale of one to five, with five stars being the most qualified.
Kristin Boggs vs. Laura M. Nesbitt
Kristin Boggs (D)
Experience:
2016-2022: State Representative for House District 18
2007-2016: Ohio Attorney General’s Office where she headed the Crime Victim Services section from 2014-2016
Columbus Bar Association Judiciary Committee: Four stars
Columbus Bar Association Poll: 69.5%
What the candidate says: Boggs said many people may know her as a legislator, but she also has a lot of legal experience from working in the state Attorney General’s office, where she often practiced in the 10th District Court of Appeals.
“There have been too many times when I’ve been in the legislature and voted against legislation because it was fundamentally unconstitutional, and when it passed anyways, my immediate thought was I hope the courts get it right,” she said. “So I thought maybe the place I should go to next is the court.”
Boggs said she knows people are frustrated and they believe a lot of policy is being made by the judicial branch, especially at the federal level. She said there’s no way to abdicate the duty as a judge to make decisions that impact policy.
“You try to be considerate of how sweeping that policy is and what is appropriate,” she said. “You can’t rewrite law as a judge, but you can certainly apply it in a manner that hopefully continues to help move the state forward in a way that is equitable and just.”
Laura M. Nesbitt (R)
Experience:
2013-present: Managing Attorney at The Nesbitt Law Firm in Dublin, where she represents clients in civil cases, including bankruptcy filings, tax disputes and contract disputes
2009-2013: Senior Associate Attorney at Jump Legal Group in Columbus
Columbus Bar Association Judiciary Committee: Two stars
Columbus Bar Association Poll: 30.5%
What the candidate says: Nesbitt said she’s not a political person and not a career politician. Her practice entails helping people who are down and out and need assistance, she said.
“I am a servant at heart,” she said. “I felt like I wanted to serve in a greater role; I wanted to be a public servant and ensure that the law that’s being decided is helping the people of Franklin County.”
Nesbitt said she will be impartial and decide on what the law says without a political agenda.
“Policy implications are going to be in the back of your head, but it shouldn’t move any further than that,” she said. “Decisions are truly supposed to be based upon what the law says.”
As a judge, Nesbitt said she would balance the importance of making sure a decision is correct with making sure a decision is made timely.
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Carly Edelstein vs. Keith McGrath
Carly Edelstein (D)
Experience:
2017-present: Supervising Attorney of the Appeals and Postconvictions Section at the Office of the Ohio Public Defender
2016-2017: Legal Services Manager at Equitas Health
2014-2016: Attorney at U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
2013-2014: Law clerk in Detroit for the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
Columbus Bar Association Judiciary Committee: Five stars
Columbus Bar Association Poll: 59.8%
What the candidate says: Before she became a lawyer, Edelstein was a sixth-grade teacher in California, where she worked with a lot of economically disadvantaged families.
“I didn’t feel all that powerful to address some of those systemic life problems outside of the classroom,” she said. “I decided to go to law school to leverage my power to help kids like them in communities like theirs. I’ve been doing that ever since.”
Edelstein said her experience shows she has always worked to help people without resources and that she is familiar with appeals courts.
Her job as an appeals judge, she said, would be to interpret and apply the law, even when she doesn’t agree with it.
“First and foremost the role of any judge, especially an appeals, is to apply the law and Constitution to facts of a given case,” Edelstein said.
She said she would strive to move cases quickly and write opinions that all parties to a case will be able to understand.
Keith McGrath (R)
Experience:
April 2022-present: Judge, 10th District Court of Appeals, appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine
2002-2022: Senior Assistant County Prosecutor, Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office
Columbus Bar Association Judiciary Committee: three stars
Columbus Bar Association Poll: 40.2%
What the candidate says: McGrath said he believes experience is important and he’s practiced as an attorney in Franklin County’s domestic, juvenile, municipal and common pleas courts.
“Because we review all the decisions from those courts,” he said. “Since I’ve been there, since I've argued the cases in the lower trial courts, I think my experience helps me as a judge on the Court of Appeals when reading those transcripts and motions and trying to decide the case.”
Since his appointment in April, McGrath has heard 50 cases. He said he’s done well so far getting issuing the opinions he’s authored in a timely manner.
McGrath said his role is not to legislate from the bench.
“I don't have an agenda,” he said. “I don't think it's appropriate to look at a case and decide an outcome. What I have to do is hear the facts of the case and apply it to the law.”
jlaird@dispatch.com
@LairdWrites
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Four candidates running for judge on Franklin County appeals court
