Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, during the Ohio Senate session, Feb. 28, 2024, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Photo republished with original article only.)
Groups seeking to abolish a private school voucher program in Ohio have abandoned a bid to get the state Senate president to weigh in on the issue.
Attorneys for Ohio public school districts and anti-voucher coalitions notified the Franklin County District Court that they had withdrawn a subpoena for Senate President Matt Huffman and canceled a written deposition for the House leader.
Attorney Mark Wallach of the Cleveland law firm McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., who represented the public school groups and districts in the court filings, gave no further reason for the withdrawal in his notice to the court.
William Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding, one of the parties to the lawsuit, said that after reviewing the records and documents provided during the discovery process, attorneys concluded that “whatever else (Huffman) had to say would have no bearing on our case.”
“Our case is strong without Huffman’s puffing and fanfare,” Phillis told the Ohio Capital Journal.
Phillis also said the groups opposing the private school vouchers in the lawsuit didn’t want to drag out the case any longer than necessary, especially since pro-public school groups felt the case would be decided in their favor.
“The more we dig into this, the more confident we are that we can show the court that this is an unconstitutional tactic,” Phillis said. “How can we not?”
The attorneys also filed a motion to dismiss the case with the Ohio Supreme Court, which Huffman appealed lower court decisions that would have compelled his written testimony, and allowed the testimony of other individuals involved in the case. The motion to dismiss was filed because the “appeal is irrelevant” now that the subpoena has been withdrawn, according to court documents.
Wallach indicated that the approaching end of the nearly three-year legal case meant the appeal was no longer necessary.
“The deadline for evidence has passed, motions for summary judgment are pending, and trial is scheduled for November — less than three months away,” Wallach wrote. “Therefore, dismissal is appropriate because there is no controversy left to decide between the parties in this appeal.”
Huffman has been opposing the declaration since March 2023, when it was first filed by the groups who say the private school voucher program hinders the state’s ability to maintain a “thorough and efficient” public school system as required by the Ohio Constitution.
The subpoena asked Huffman to answer questions “about his knowledge of Ohio school financing and his involvement in the implementation and expansion of the EdChoice program.”
The Senate president consistently cited the constitutional protections provided by the Speech and Debate Clause, which grants lawmakers “testimonial privilege” to protect lawmakers from court-ordered questioning, according to court documents, and which states that lawmakers “may not be questioned elsewhere” on matters being discussed or debated in the Senate or House during a session of the General Assembly, according to the Constitutional clause cited by Huffman’s attorneys.
Huffman said ignoring the Speech and Debate Clause and allowing the testimony could have a “far-reaching chilling effect on Ohio lawmakers.” Even if he were allowed to be questioned, Huffman argued, his beliefs and opinions about EdChoice are “irrelevant.”
A court ruled that Huffman did not have to submit to an oral deposition, but instead had to answer written questions from voucher challengers. The Ohio Court of Appeals for the Tenth District denied Huffman’s appeal of the order, leading him to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Courtand asked the state’s highest court to exempt him from the injunction, citing the same legislative privilege he claimed protected him in previous appeals. The Ohio Supreme Court accepted the appeal in July.
The Franklin County case goes to trial on November 4.
A spokesman for Huffman declined to comment on the development of the case.
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