Thomas Moyer 70 Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice
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was the longest-serving sitting state Supreme Court chief justice in the
United States, died Friday at age 70.
Moyer was admitted to a Columbus hospital Thursday morning after
experiencing gastrointestinal problems and died Friday afternoon, court
spokesman Chris Davey said. Over the past few months Moyer had health
problems that weren't believed to be life-threatening.
Moyer, the second-longest-serving chief justice in Ohio history, became
chief justice Jan. 1, 1987. He had planned to retire after finishing his
current term at the end of the year.
Justice Paul Pfeifer, who met Moyer when both were students at the Ohio
State University law school, said he and his colleagues were brought to
tears.
"It's just a huge tragedy for all of us and a great loss for his family and
for the citizens of Ohio," he said. "He was the quintessential image, and
not just image but the reality of dignity of the office of chief justice,
and of the role of the courts in our society."
Pfeifer said Moyer's health had deteriorated over the past weeks but he was
in court on Tuesday, despite looking "very ill," and returned Wednesday
looking much better. He said he was disappointed Moyer didn't get a "very
grand party" to end his more than two decades as chief justice but Moyer
would've been proud he presided to the end of his life.
Moyer, a Republican, extended a bipartisan hand to the first Democratic
governor in the state in 16 years when he delivered the oath of office to
Gov. Ted Strickland in January 2007.
Strickland on Friday ordered flags at public buildings and grounds flown at
half-staff Monday through the day of Moyer's burial. He called Moyer
"dignified, respectful, thoughtful and always concerned for the well-being
of others."
Among the influential cases Moyer oversaw was one through which the court
multiple times declared Ohio's school funding system unconstitutional.
Bill Phillis, who led the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School
Funding, which fought Ohio's school funding formula before the court,
praised Moyer's conduct.
"He was always an honorable person. There was never any question about the
integrity of Tom Moyer," he said. "That's not to say we agreed with Tom ...
but you never questioned his honesty and integrity."
Among Moyer's main efforts was to change the way judges are selected in
Ohio. He had been pushing for a constitutional amendment requiring the
appointment of state Supreme Court justices, rather that selection through
election, because he believed having judges seek large campaign donations
tainted the legal system.
"It doesn't support the fundamental principle of judges acting fairly and
impartially," Moyer told The Associated Press in December.
Catherine Turcer, campaign finance director for Ohio Citizen Action, a
grass-roots consumer advocacy group, called Moyer a good advocate for
changing the system.
"I really admired that because that's not easy to do," she said. "Here he
is, he's the chief justice and he's saying, 'Hey, there's something really
wrong here. We need to stop combining money and judges.'"
Ohio State University law professor Marc Spindelman, who argued cases before
the court, said Moyer would take time from his busy schedule to speak to
students.
"This is a reeling loss for the court. The chief justice was a great
statesman, in addition to being an absolutely hardworking public servant and
just a very decent human being," Spindelman said. "He was the court's
moderating impulse."
Moyer also had worked to adopt out-of-court conflict resolution strategies
and to bring interpreters into the courts for non-English speakers and the
hearing impaired. He assisted other courts across the nation and world,
including those in China, Argentina and Ukraine.
State law says "the judge having the period of longest total service upon
the court shall be the acting chief justice" if the chief justice is absent
or disabled. Pfeifer, considered the all-Republican court's most liberal
voice, now is the longest-serving justice on the court; he was first elected
in 1993.