SHELBY – Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody Stewart was the keynote speaker Saturday at the Shelby Area Democratic Club’s annual Truman-Kennedy Breakfast. Her election in 2018 made her the first Black woman elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in its more than 220-year history. She will run for re-election next fall.
Stewart was raised by a single mother in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood and remembers the 1960s riots when she was a young girl. Although her mother had only an eighth-grade education in a segregated, one-room schoolhouse, she was never able to beat her mother at Scrabble until college, where she studied music. Her mother instilled in her a love of classical music, and she began learning piano at the age of 5.
Stewart also served as an appellate judge for Ohio’s 8th District for 12 years. She said it’s that legal experience that sets her apart from her opponent, who had no legal experience before being appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2023.
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She lamented the fact that the Ohio Legislature in 2021 passed legislation requiring judges running for appellate and Supreme Court seats to have their party designation next to their names.
“Politics has no place in the judiciary. There are excellent judges from both parties,” Stewart said.
This article originally appeared in Mansfield News Journal: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody Justice speaks to Shelby Democrats
