Joe Deters was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court in January 2023 by Gov. Mike DeWine. (Photo from Ohio Supreme Court).
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters thinks it’s too easy to change the Ohio Constitution, he said recently on a Buckeye Firearms Association podcast.
Deters, an incumbent Republican justice, is on the ballot for the state’s high court this November, but not for the seat he’s currently occupying. Deters chose instead to challenge incumbent Democratic Justice Melody Stewart for a full term instead of running for his appointed seat.
“As a political observer, not as a justice on the Supreme Court, I think the U.S. Constitution is way too hard to amend,” Deters said on Monday’s episode of Keep and Bear Radio podcast. “I mean, it’s really, really hard to change the U.S. Constitution. It would require a Herculean groundswell effort to do that. In Ohio, it’s pretty easy. You just need 50% plus one. That’s all you need. … I think it’s too easy in Ohio.”
During a special election last summer, 57% of Ohioans voted against an effort that would have made it harder to pass future amendments to the Ohio Constitution. This kept the status quo since 1912 of needing a simple majority to pass a constitutional amendment. Republicans were trying to raise the threshold to 60% in an attempt to make it harder to pass an amendment to protect abortion rights — which 57% of Ohioans also ended up voting for in November 2023.
In a letter to colleagues, one Republican lawmaker pushing the effort also listed stopping further redistricting reform as a reason for them to support making it harder to amend the state constitution. Ohio voters will decide on a redistricting amendment this November that would remove politicians from the map-making process in favor of a citizens commission.
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Deters said on the podcast his position is about public policy.
“As a public policy matter, I think the Ohio Constitution probably should be more difficult to change because otherwise you’re flipping back and forth all the time, depending on the political wind,” Deters said on the podcast.
Deters was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court in January 2023 by Gov. Mike DeWine and had no prior experience as a judge. He did not respond to a questionnaire the Ohio Capital Journal sent him related to him being a candidate on this year’s ballot.
Buckeye Firearm’s political action committee has endorsed Deters and the two other Republican candidates running for Ohio Supreme Court — Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan and Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Dan Hawkins. Party labels were added to Ohio’s Supreme Court races by Republican lawmakers starting in 2022.
Deters recently talked about redistricting on the right-wing Cleveland radio show Strictly Speaking with Bob Frantz.
“I think it’s kind of humorous to watch when the other side can’t win, they want to change the rules whether it’s hacking the U.S. Supreme Court because they don’t have the justices they like, or getting rid of the Electoral College because they don’t have a clear advantage in the Electoral College like they do, and it’s just a flat popular vote. And now redistricting,” he said on the Cleveland radio show.
He made similar remarks while on the Buckeye Firearms podcast and even went a little further when the podcast host and Buckeye Firearms Executive Director Dean Rieck asked Deters specifically about Issue 1, which would remove politicians from redistricting if approved.
“I really can’t get it because there’s gonna be litigation out the wazoo about this issue, but I will say make one comment to you — gerrymandering can be good and bad,” Deters said on the podcast. “I think it has bad connotations today. It also has good connotations. I mean, if you’re doing it to protect the representation of the electorate, I think it’s good.”
The second amendment was discussed at length on the podcast. When gun violence came up, Deters said it’s not about the weapon people use.
“When you blame your weapon, it’s a way to wiggle out of personal responsibility,” he said on the podcast. “I’m telling you right now, some guy comes into my theater with a gun. I hope there’s people in there with guns to stop it, because that’s the only way these mass shootings have stopped in America. If somebody else is there, some law abiding citizen who’s caring stops the mess.”
Republicans currently have a 4-3 majority on the Ohio Supreme Court. Shannahan is challenging Incumbent Democratic Justice Michael P. Donnelly and Hawkins is going up against Lisa Forbes, of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, for Deters’ open seat. Depending on the election, the Democrats could flip the court or the Republicans could add to their current 4-3 majority.
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