Ohio: Supreme Court

You know what is so offensive? Those damn P.C. police pressuring the president to place a second woman on the Supreme Court. You know, because it's not embarrassing or anything that although 51 percent of the population is female, only 11 percent of the Court is. [...]

The Ohio Supreme Court threw out a case brought last week by Jessica Derov of Warren, who
disputed the validity of a breath test that found her to be driving under the influence. Derov's
case could have had implications for the state's new breath-testing device, the Intoxilyzer 8000,
which has drawn challenges even before it's used in the state.

The Supreme Court decided against even considering that question.

In its decision to throw out Derov's case, the court said there wasn't enough information for it
to weigh the validity of the test used on Derov -- much less the Intoxilyzer, which is a different
instrument.

The Intoxilyzer 8000 was supposed to debut in a pilot program in Clermont County early this
year, but it's still not in use, said Tom Hunter, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Public
Safety.

-- James Nash

jnash@dispatch.com

The House also announced it would delay final action on the budget until after its spring break, pushing expected passage from late March into mid-April. The spending plan has to make it through both the House and Senate before July 1.

One frustrated member of the House Finance committee, Republican Seth Morgan, filed a second public records request with Gov. Ted Strickland seeking a road map to understanding his "evidence-based" school-funding formula.

Morgan's first request was met with an almost 400-source bibliography of studies and reports upon which the formula is based.

"Providing a bibliography is not full transparency and we remain unsatisfied," said Morgan, who represents minority House Republicans.

Strickland is pushing for a dramatic overhaul of Ohio's school funding formula that would boost the state's share of the cost and reduce what taxpayers are expected to contribute to their local schools.

The reality version of The Appeal concerns Don Blankenship, chief executive officer of A.T. Massey Coal Co., who almost single-handedly changed the composition of the West Virginia Supreme Court by supporting Brent Benjamin against incumbent Chief Justice Warner McGraw. Blankenship started his quest after a jury rendered a $50 million verdict against Massey Coal in favor of Hugh Caperton and his company, Harmon Mining.

Blankenship contributed $2.5 million to a political action committee that viewed McGraw as too soft on crime and too dangerous for kids, and spent $500,000 on advertising. Altogether, Blankenship spent three times what Benjamin's own committee spent. A year before the Massey case came before the court, Benjamin was seated as its new chief justice.