Michael P. Donnelly (Ohio)
2019 - Present
2024
5
Michael P. Donnelly (Democratic Party) is a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2019. His current term ends on December 31, 2024.
Donnelly (Democratic Party) is running for re-election for judge of the Ohio Supreme Court. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024. He advanced from the Democratic primary on March 19, 2024.
To read more about judicial selection in Ohio, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] Donnelly received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Donnelly received his undergraduate degree from John Carroll University and his J.D. from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1992 and began working as an assistant prosecutor for Cuyahoga County. In 1997, he left that role to become an attorney at the firm of Davis & Young, where he worked until 1999. He then joined the firm of Climaco, Lefkowitz, Peca, Wilcox & Garofoli, working as a private practice attorney until his election to the common pleas bench in 2004.[3] Donnelly was a judge on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division in Cleveland, Ohio, from 2005 to 2018.[3][4]
In 2011, Donnelly participated in a program with the National Judicial College called "Innovative Leadership/Management Skills for Future Court Leaders". In 2012, Donnelly served as the Chair of the Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.[5][6]
Elections
2024
See also: Ohio Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for Ohio Supreme Court
Incumbent Michael P. Donnelly and Megan E. Shanahan are running in the general election for Ohio Supreme Court on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
 | Michael P. Donnelly (D) | |
 | Megan E. Shanahan (R) | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Ohio Supreme Court
Incumbent Michael P. Donnelly advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio Supreme Court on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael P. Donnelly | 100.0 | 462,982 |
| Total votes: 462,982 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Ohio Supreme Court
Megan E. Shanahan advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio Supreme Court on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Megan E. Shanahan | 100.0 | 836,768 |
| Total votes: 836,768 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
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2018
- See also: Ohio Supreme Court elections, 2018
General election
General election for Ohio Supreme Court
Michael P. Donnelly defeated Craig Baldwin in the general election for Ohio Supreme Court on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael P. Donnelly (D) | 61.0 | 2,170,227 |
 | Craig Baldwin (R) | 39.0 | 1,385,435 | |
| Total votes: 3,555,662 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Ohio Supreme Court
Michael P. Donnelly advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio Supreme Court on May 8, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael P. Donnelly | 100.0 | 501,831 |
| Total votes: 501,831 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Ohio Supreme Court
Craig Baldwin advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio Supreme Court on May 8, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Craig Baldwin | 100.0 | 595,000 |
| Total votes: 595,000 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2016
Ohio held general elections for local judicial offices on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on March 15, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was December 16, 2015.
General election
Incumbent Michael Donnelly ran unopposed in the general election.
| Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas (General Division–Donnelly Seat), General Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Michael Donnelly Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 277,301 |
| Total Votes | 277,301 | |
| Source: Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed November 9, 2016 | ||
Primary election
Incumbent Michael Donnelly ran unopposed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division Democratic primary election.
| Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas (General Division–Donnelly Seat), Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Michael Donnelly Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 101,162 |
| Total Votes | 101,162 | |
| Source: Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed March 16, 2016 | ||
2010
Donnelly was re-elected after running unopposed.[7]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Michael
Donnelly
Ohio
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Democrat as of 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Received donations from Democrat-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Donnelly Was a registered Democrat as of 2020. He donated $400 to the Ohio Democratic Party. He received $10,000 from the Ohio Democratic Party, $10,000 from the Service Employees International Union, and $7,000 from the Ohio Education Association. He was endorsed by the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, the Cuyahoga County Young Democrats, the Ohio AFL-CIO, the Ohio Democratic Party, the Lake County Bar Association, the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats, and the Columbus Fire Fighters Union Local #67. Ohio was a Republican trifecta when he was elected.
State supreme court judicial selection in Ohio
- See also: Judicial selection in Ohio
The seven justices of the Ohio Supreme Court are selected through partisan primaries and partisan general elections. Previously, these judges were selected through partisan primaries and nonpartisan general elections, known as the Michigan method.[10][11][12]
All judges serve six-year terms, after which they are required to run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court.[12]
Qualifications
To serve on the Ohio Supreme Court, a judge must:
- have at least six years in the practice of law;
- be licensed to practice law in the state for at least one year preceding appointment or commencement of the judge's term;
- a judge of a court of record in any jurisdiction in the U.S.; and
- be under the age of 70.[13]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court is chosen by voters at large, serving a full six-year term in that capacity.[12]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement. The appointee serves until the next general election taking place 40 or more days after the vacancy occurred. If re-elected, the judge serves the remainder of his or her predecessor's unexpired term.[12]
In 2007, Governor Ted Strickland (D) issued an executive order creating a judicial appointment recommendation panel to assist in making new appointments. The panel evaluates applicants and advises the governor, but the governor is not bound to the panel's recommendations.[12] A similar system was established in 1972 under Governor Jack Gilligan (D), but it was abolished by Governor James A. Rhodes (R) three years later.[14]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
Noteworthy cases
Ohio Supreme Court limits Chevron deference (2023)
- See also: Chevron deference
The Ohio Supreme Court on December 29, 2022, ruled against applications of Chevron deference in the state. In TWISM Ents., L.L.C. v. State Bd. of Registration for Professional Engineers & Surveyors, the court found that state courts do not need to defer to state agency interpretations of the law—a deference doctrine known as Chevron deference at the federal level.[15]
Lower courts in TWISM deferred to the Ohio Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors’ interpretation of its engineering certification rules, which denied TWISM Enterprises’ application to provide professional engineering services because the company’s designated licensed engineer was an independent contractor rather than an employee. TWISM Enterprises appealed the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing that the agency’s interpretation of the governing statute was flawed because the law does not specify that the licensed engineer must be an employee of the business.[15]
Justice Pat DeWine (with Justices Sharon L. Kennedy, Pat Fischer, and Michael P. Donnelly concurring) disagreed with the agency’s interpretation of the statute and argued that the judicial branch has the authority to determine whether the statutory interpretations of state agencies are lawful. DeWine, writing for the court, argued “that it is the role of the judiciary, not administrative agencies, to make the ultimate determination about what the law means. Thus, the judicial branch is never required to defer to an agency's interpretation of the law.” DeWine added that “an agency interpretation is simply one consideration a court may sometimes take into account in rendering the court's own independent judgment as to what the law is.”[15]
Justices Maureen O’Connor, Melody Stewart, and Jennifer Brunner concurred in the judgment only.[15]
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Ohio Supreme Court |
Officeholder Ohio Supreme Court |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, "Judge Michael P. Donnelly," archived December 2, 2018
- ↑ Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, "Candidate List," archived February 1, 2016
- ↑ The Ohio Judicial System, Press Release: "Ohio Judges Identified as Justice System Leaders," July 11, 2011
- ↑ The Supreme Court of Ohio & The Ohio Judicial System, "Judge Donnelly Appointed Chair of Commission on Professionalism," December 22, 2011
- ↑ Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, November 2, 2010 General Election Candidates List
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Ohio Secretary of State, “Ohio Candidate Requirement Guide,” accessed December 7, 2021
- ↑ Ohio General Assembly, “(Senate Bill Number 80),” accessed December 7, 2021
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Ohio," accessed September 1, 2021
- ↑ Ohio Laws & Administrative Rules, "Section 2503.01 | Composition of supreme court; qualifications for justices.," accessed April 12, 2023
- ↑ University of Cincinnati College of Law, "Judicial Selection in Ohio: History, Recent Developments, and an Analysis of Reform Proposals," September 2003
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Supreme Court of Ohio, "TWISM Ents., L.L.C. v. State Bd. of Registration for Professional Engineers & Surveyors," December 29, 2022
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|---|---|---|---|
| Current |
Chief Justice: Sharon L. Kennedy • Melody Stewart • Michael P. Donnelly (Ohio) • Pat DeWine • Pat Fischer • Jennifer L. Brunner • Joseph Deters | ||
| Former |
Thomas Moyer • Paul Pfeifer • Maureen O'Connor (Ohio) • Terrence O'Donnell (Ohio) • Judith Ann Lanzinger • Robert Cupp • Evelyn Stratton • David Dowd • Maurice Donahue • Mary DeGenaro • Judith French • John Peck II • Eric Brown (Ohio) • Francis E. Sweeney, Sr. • Alice R. Resnick • Herbert R. Brown • J. Craig Wright • Andrew G. Douglas • James P. Celebrezze • William O'Neill (Ohio) • Bob Cupp • Yvette McGee Brown • | ||
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State courts:
Ohio Supreme Court • Ohio District Courts of Appeal • Ohio Courts of Common Pleas • Ohio County Courts • Ohio Municipal Courts • Ohio Court of Claims
State resources:
Courts in Ohio • Ohio judicial elections • Judicial selection in Ohio
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