March 3, 2010

Justice Maureen O’Connor

Supreme Court of Ohio
65 South Front Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3431

Dear Justice O’Connor,

I am the Executive Director of the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a grassroots non-profit
organization dedicated to strengthening liberty and justice in America. Your best memory of JCN
may be a 2008 television ad campaign which aired in Ohio wherein we focused on the judiciary in
the Fall. However, we have also conducted extensive grassroots campaigns in Ohio via mail,
telephone, email, and even phone text messaging. We are proud to have built a multi-tool database
of over 400,000 Ohioans who have indicated they share our commitment to a restrained judiciary.

JCN began by focusing on the U.S. Supreme Court only, but recently broadened the scope of its
mission to include judicial selection at the state level, and that is why I write you today.

Given the relatively narrow balance of the current Ohio Supreme Court, JCN has been particularly
concerned about the ramifications of this year’s court elections.

You have played such an important part in restoring balance to that Court. We applaud your record.
But, unfortunately, it cannot be taken for granted that the court will always enjoy a majority of
judges like yourself. You can imagine our concern over the fact that your quest to become Chief
Justice – if successful – will undoubtedly result in the addition of a liberal activist to the court since
Governor Strickland would be given the opportunity to appoint your replacement. As one of our
Ohio supporters recently quipped, “You win, and the people of Ohio lose.”

That fact was of somewhat less concern when it was conceivable that the liberal judicial activist
Paul Pfeifer would be challenged by a primary opponent. Pfeifer’s defeat by a practitioner of
judicial restraint would have maintained the Court’s current balance whether you won or lost. We
thought a challenger would emerge, but, alas, none did and the calculus has therefore changed
dramatically – it is no longer possible for the loss of your seat to be offset by the replacement of
Justice Pfeifer.

The only way to maintain the current balance on the Court would be if you withdrew from the race
for Chief Justice, pursuant to Section 3513.31 of the Ohio Revised Code, so that the Republican
Party of Ohio can nominate a conservative candidate to replace you. This is the only possible way
the people of Ohio would continue to receive the full benefit of your important presence on the
Court, without having to suffer from the addition of a liberal judicial activist.
Your record on the Court speaks to your commitment to a jurisprudence that respects the rule of
law, the Constitution, and the proper role of the courts in our system of governance. You have done
so much good during your tenure. We are certain you do not want to see the benefit of that
jurisprudence lost to the people of Ohio because of the inevitable result of your candidacy for Chief
Justice.

On behalf of JCN and our supporters in Ohio, I urge you to search your conscience, which will lead
to the inescapable conclusion that you should withdraw from the race for Chief Justice.

Sincerely,

Gary Marx
Executive Director

cc: Kevin DeWine, Chairman, Ohio Republican Party

cc: Kay Ayres, Vice Chairman, Ohio Republican Party