COLUMBUS — Cleveland appellate Judge Lisa Forbes said she first decided to run for judge four years ago because she was concerned that the public's confidence in their courts was eroding.

"I don't think it has gotten any better since then," she said.

She watched the Ohio Supreme Court, in bipartisan votes, repeatedly strike down state legislative and congressional maps drawn by elected officials only to see those maps used in 2022 elections anyway.

"When there are people in our government who are sworn to uphold the law and the constitution of the state of Ohio, who refuse to do it, that is a constitutional crisis,” Judge Forbes said. “People should be outraged that their public officials are doing that. They're not playing by the rules. It's not about the outcomes. It's about the system.”

Judge Forbes, 61, a Shaker Heights Democrat, is squaring off on Nov. 5 for the Supreme Court opposite Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Dan Hawkins, 48, a Republican.

They are vying for the two years left in the term that appointed Republican Justice Joe Deters is vacating. Justice Deters opted to challenge Democratic incumbent Justice Melody Stewart for a full six-year term this cycle.

The court currently has a 4-3 Republican majority. With two of their incumbents seeking re-election, Democrats would have to sweep all three seats on the Nov. 5 ballot to take the majority. Absentee and in-person early voting is under way.

Judge Forbes has served on the 8th District Court of Appeals since 2021. She said her role on the high court would be to serve as as a "firewall" for the rights of Ohioans.

"What matters is who the jurists are, not what party backs them," she told The Blade. "It's important we have independent and fair jurists and not people who are coming in with an agenda. My agenda is to uphold the law. That's where it starts, and that's where it ends."

To reach the fall ballot, Judge Forbes first had to defeat a primary opponent, Columbus appellate Judge Terri Jamison, the party’s unsuccessful justice candidate in 2022.

After earning her law degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1992, now Judge Forbes spent nearly three decades as a courtroom litigator with the international law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease, based in Columbus. She represented both sides in cases involving business.

Neither Judge Forbes not Judge Hawkins were involved when a pair of Supreme Court decisions were rendered that Democratic and Republican candidates, in turn, have latched onto as examples of what they claim was legislating from the bench.

"I think the word ‘boneless’ does not mean bones, and I think that is an example of legislating from the bench," Judge Forbes said. She was referring to a 4-3 decision earlier this year in which the court's Republican majority determined a restaurant patron could not sue when injured by a bone in a chicken wing advertised as boneless.

The court's majority found that the term "boneless" referred to a cooking style, and that consumers should be prepared for any chicken product to contain bones.

"It does certainly seem that they decided what the outcome was going to be and then backfilled," Judge Forbes said. "I do not do that. I think it is imperative that I look at everything with fresh eyes.

"First you read the briefs," she said. "I read the prior decisions. I read the law. I read any statutes. I look at the evidence. Then I decide what the outcome is. That's guided by the law."

The "boneless" wings case became fodder for late-night comedian Stephen Colbert.

"Our Supreme Court is literally made into a joke," Judge Forbes said. "There's a genuine legal question that was presented in that case that is really quite frankly boring, ... but the real legal question gets lost in this sort of frivolous and disrespectful treatment of the English language."

Judge Hawkins, however, said the decision spoke for itself.

“They were following prior court precedent,” he said. “It would have been an activist decision had they ruled the way the Democratic judges would have wanted them to rule. The legislature can fix that issue if they want."

Again, neither judge was involved in the high court’s bipartisan ruling that found trial judges should not consider public safety when setting dollar amounts for bail. Republicans used that case in 2022 elections, pushing a successful constitutional amendment on the ballot that year to mandate that judges consider public safety at that stage.

"The DuBose decision on the Ohio Supreme Court followed the letter and spirit of the law and was misused and abused," Judge Forbes said. "Under no circumstances is there a dollar amount that you can impose on a dangerous criminal, that if they pay that dollar amount, miraculously they will be no longer dangerous and released into the community."

The time to consider public safety is at a hearing when it is determined whether a defendant should be freed on bond at all while awaiting trial, not after that decision has been made, the court’s majority contended in that case.

"I anticipate that I will be challenged as being soft on crime," Judge Forbes said. "I'm a Democrat. I don't understand that, but rest assured I live in a very densely populated area. I don't advocate for crime. I think people who break the law should pay their debt to society."

Judge Forbes has served as board president of the Centers, which provides health care, Head Start, job training, housing, pharmacy, and other services to vulnerable Cuyahoga County residents.

"I think it makes me a better judge," she said. "Everybody brings their experiences to what they're doing. So having this opportunity to really deal with a segment of the population of my county and do my part to help our community as a whole, it gives me a greater appreciation for how the law impacts people.

"I do believe that expanded horizon of perspective makes me a better judge and will make me a better justice," she said.

LISA B. FORBES

Age: 61

Residence: Shaker Heights

Party: Democrat

Current office: Judge, 8th District Court of Appeals (2021-present)

Education: Law degree, Case Western Reserve University (1992), Bachelor's in public policy, Cornell University (1985)

Website: ForbesForJustice.com

First Published October 13, 2024, 4:00 a.m.