Republican appeals court judge assigned to preside over abortion law injunction
Mar. 9—Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy on Thursday assigned Matthew Byrne, a Twelfth District Court of Appeals judge, to preside ov...
Mar. 9—Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy on Thursday assigned Matthew Byrne, a Twelfth District Court of Appeals judge, to preside over a state appeal of a preliminary injunction on Ohio's abortion law. Byrne, a Warren County Republican who is described as a conservative constitutional originalist, replaces newly appointed Ohio Justice Joe Deters, who recused himself because his former office is a defendant in the case. The appeals case stems from a lawsuit filed in September in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in which Planned Parenthood and Ohio abortion clinics challenged Ohio's Heartbeat Law (Senate Bill 23, signed in 2019) after it took effect when Roe V.