WKSU News: Cupp says he won't go for Ohio Supreme Court appointment

Friday, November 16, 2012 Cupp says he won't go for Ohio Supreme Court appointment He says he doesn't want an appearance that he'd be currying favor wiith Gov. Kasich by WKSU's STATEHOUSE BUREAU CHIEF KAREN KASLER This story is part of a special series.	Reporter Karen Kasler

Voters defeated Ohio Supreme Court Justice Robert Cupp last week, and he says he won't put in for an appointment back to the court.

Courtesy of Ohio Supreme Court

In The Region:

A justice bounced from the Ohio Supreme court by voters last week won’t try to stay on the court, even though a vacancy is coming up. Ohio Public Radio’s Karen Kasler reports.

KASLER: Cupp won't be back on Ohio's high court

Other options:

Windows Media /

MP3 Download (0:48)

Republican Justice Robert Cupp was defeated by Democratic challenger Bill O’Neill, who won a seat in his third try for the state Supreme Court.

Republican Justice Evelyn Stratton is retiring, and there was speculation that Cupp might be Gov. Kasich’s choice to replace her.

But Cupp says that he will not put in for that appointment. He notes that several cases emain to be decided by the end of the year and he won’t apply “to avoid any appearance that my decision in such cases may be influenced by a desire to be appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy, and to best serve public confidence in the independence of the Supreme Court.”

But Cupp is not ruling out another run at some point.

Listener Comments:

Here we go with more spin from Justice Cupp!

Our Federal lawsuit against FIRSTENERGY naming five Republican Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court as "nominal" Defendants (Lisa G. Huff et al v. Firstenergy et al-12 CV 2583) most notably including Justice Cupp as the first named "nominal Defendant" ultimately played a role in Justice Cupp's defeat and is the real reason he cannot be considered for the vacancy. That suit details how justice Cupp was willfully deceptive when a disciplinary complaint filed by the now Justice Elect O'Neill was pending against him. We have now discovered more evidence of a possible FIRSTENERGY top executive sponsored fundraiser that may have occurred this year. The fact is that Justice Cupp wanted the public and the Disciplinary Board to believe that he had no idea that FIRSTENERGY was his largest contributor when he took their money, violated long standing court principles to set up a special court for them and ruled in their favor repeatedly. The truth is that if the Disciplinary Board has any integrity whatsoever Justice Cupp will have to be officially investigated for his overall conduct during the campaign (one would presume that this would happen after he leaves office). Regardless of the findings the Governor's Office would be politically barred from considering him. The truth is; if there were no other pending problems, Justice Cupp could simply recuse himself from any case involving the State and the invented roadblock would be gone, problem solved.

This same thing happened two (2) years ago when then Supreme Court Candidate Mary Jane Trapp was considered by many to be the obvious top pick to replace Maureen O'Connor's vacated seat after the election in which Mary Jane Trapp did fairly well against a well funded incumbent. The problem was charges levied by three credible citizens including two (2) doctors and the possibility of an FBI probe into those charges that she used her position as the presiding Judge of the 11th District Court Appeals to cover up actual falsification of court records (something she stated in August 2012 at a lake County Tea Party event is the precise improper thing for any judge to attempt apparently forgetting that she herself had done just that; See U-Tube). Needless to say Gov Strickland's selection committee was notified, she was not appointed, she did not run again for the Supreme Court, she just lost her seat on the 11th Dist. and is still facing serious issues related to the falsification cover up.

The lesson is to rule on the law and the facts correctly every time no matter what political ally or colleague (with or without illegal ex-parte privileges) gets stung and to fix past injustices now!

Posted by: Anonymous on November 17, 2012 11:11AM

Add Your Comment