Journal-News.com

Columbus, Ohio — Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O'Connor didn't have rock stars campaigning for her. She has never drawn crowds of tens of thousands to her political rallies. And she even admits that some voters didn't even know Ohio has a Supreme Court.

Nonetheless, in the last election, more Ohioans voted for O'Connor than Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. O'Connor got 2.8 million votes compared with Obama's 2.77 million votes.

O'Connor said this goes against the conventional wisdom that voters don't pay attention to nonpartisan races.

"I was a little concerned that we wouldn't have a big vote for the Supreme Court, that there would be a huge drop-off between the presidential and the Supreme Court race. And that wasn't the case," O'Connor said. "So I think the message is out there that the Supreme Court is important and it's important who is on the Supreme Court."

O'Connor, 57, is a Republican with a law and order resume: former Summit County prosecutor, magistrate and judge, former lieutenant governor under Bob Taft and former director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. She's been on the Supreme Court bench since 2002.

Despite her political career and her ability to snag votes, it's doubtful that most Ohioans could pick her out of a photo lineup. The justices work in near anonymity. They don't have their party identification on the ballot, and even when they're in the regal courtroom listening to legal arguments, there are no nameplates identifying them.

"She has a name that most people think they're familiar with," said Republican political consultant Brian Hicks. "Everybody thinks they went to school with someone named Maureen O'Connor."

That familiarity, plus her 10 years in statewide politics, may help her if she decides to run for chief justice of the Supreme Court in 2010. Chief Justice Tom Moyer, who has held the post for 22 years, will be forced to retire because of age limits.

"I'm thinking about it very seriously," she said.

The Supreme Court is the court of last resort in Ohio, and it also regulates admission to the practice of law, disciplines attorneys and sets rules for lower courts to follow. The chief has the power to appoint judges in all the state courts when the sitting judge can't hear a case because of illness, recusal or disqualification. The chief decides when to disqualify judges. Justices are paid $141,600 a year while the chief makes $150,850.

O'Connor could face competition for the job from fellow Republicans Jim Petro and Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton. Petro, a former attorney general in private practice, and Stratton, who was just re-elected, have both expressed interest.

The Ohio Democratic Party has made no inroads at the all Republican Supreme Court, so it's unclear who might run on the Democratic side.

O'Connor, who has two adult sons, writes more opinions faster than any of the seven justices. She is most proud of authoring the unanimous decision in an eminent domain case that got national recognition. She really likes cases where a court decision will help strike a balance between privacy and police powers.

O'Connor can come across as guarded, unfriendly and tough. However, her colleagues say she has a dry and sarcastic wit.

"She is a hard charging person and her personality shows that. She doesn't suffer fools lightly. She has a very quick wit and is extremely funny, but she often doesn't let that side show," Hicks said.