Chief Justice Thomas Moyer has crossed the line in the sand

[donsu]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-18/112124257479800.xml&storylist=cleveland


Chief justice disqualifies entire Cuyahoga County court

All 34 judges on the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court have been disqualified by Ohio's chief justice from hearing a lawsuit alleging corruption by the Republican party.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer said on Tuesday the unusual move was necessary to eliminate any perception of bias by the court system that's dominated by Democrats. Moyer is a Republican.

Moyer said he will appoint a retired visiting judge from outside Cuyahoga County to the case

-snip-

Hagan said Moyer's decision fits in with GOP efforts "to deep-six these issues and hope they go away" before the 2006 statewide elections.
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gads, Ohio is coming apart at the seams

Tommy Moyer dirties the name of Chief Justice

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Is there any uproar locally?

[donsu]

4. Clevelanders are probably too stunned by the crumbling of their

city and state to fight back much.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. What is Dennis K saying?

[Darkhawk32]

2. Wasn't it Moyer that refrused to hear the Arnebeck case? n/t

[splat@14]

3. We need to invade.

[napi21]

5. WOW! I didn't know he could do that!

Do you think there's a case where an impartial judge could actually find the Pubs guilty in this mess?

[Bryan Buchan]

6. We should mobilize make phone calls write

op'ed pieces...put the pressure on. Hearing stuff like this pisses me off.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. I agree. This would be a good 2nd DU activism job

[napi21]

10. I can see writing and calling, but what's chances he will

appoint an unbiased judge from outside the County? I would think that should be the biggest concern. If he does, and the unbiased judge finds in favor of the Dems, you've won a bigger victory than if the Pubs could just claim political bias, don't ya think?

[Deep13]

8. Look, single party government breeds corruption.

The Ds have a lock on Cuyahoga County courts. It is the biggest Common Pleas court in the state. While there are some very good judges there, some others have no business being on the bench. Most of those are Ds who replaced appointed Rs after an election. Judges in Ohio run in a partisan election every six years. Basically any lawyer who has been licensed for 5 years can run for judge.

I don't see anything wrong with having a visiting judge handle this matter. It is routine when there are allegations of corruption.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Point taken, but my question then is what is this visiting judge's

history?

[Deep13]

12. Who is it?

[Deep13]

15. Ah-hah, I miss-understood the point of the suit.

Based on what I heard on the radio yesterday, I thought the suit pertained to corruption in COUNTY government. It is about corruption in state government. Speaking of single party politics, Ohio state government is about as bad as it gets. Frivolous? I thought the pay-to-play political machine was common knowledge.

[mandomom]

13. Disqualify thyself, then, Judge Moyer.

[Deep13]

14. I don't think he will hear the case.

Why get involved in that kind of situtation if he doesn't have too. I believe he will appoint a retired judge from an outlying county.

Party is not as important as you might think in these matters. This county only has two Common Pleas judges and I doubt you could tell which is a D and which is an R (there is one of each) by looking at their rulings. It is only important for election purposes in counties with strong party machines: basically that means Cuyahoga.

The lawyers who challenged Bush's Ohio victory were sanctioned by the local court. Moyer overturned the sanctions saying there was no evidence that the lawsuit was frivolous.