Hi, I'm Jeff Sickinga, Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center, and this is the American idea,

where we discuss the ideas, people, and events that have made America what it is today.

We believe that by understanding our history and our principles, we can better live up to the promise of the American family and preserve our ongoing experiment in self-government.

Welcome to the American Idea. I want to welcome everyone to this episode of

the American Idea. Today we have a very, very special guest, the Chief Justice of the Ohio

Supreme Court, Sharon Kennedy. She's going to be talking about the importance of the

Constitution, importance of the rule of law, and the role of the courts in maintaining that rule of law.

We thought we'd take a moment to have a conversation with her about her role as Chief Justice in the Ohio Supreme Court and her thoughts on challenges to the judiciary today.

Chief Justice Kennedy, thanks for taking the time to be here with us.

Well, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

The Ohio Supreme Court. I think a lot of folks in Ohio and around the country, they know that

every state has a Supreme Court or some kind of final court. What's the role of the Ohio Supreme Court?

So you said it best when you said you think that everybody knows that there is a

final court, the court of last resort in every step. And it's really amazing when you look at the

founding, how protective the states were in ensuring that they maintained their own independence.

And in maintaining that independence, they of course initiated and started their own independence. And in maintaining that independence,

they, of course, initiated and started their own court systems.

So the Supreme Court of Ohio has taken a rather securitist route

to get to the powers that it has today.

So in 1802, it was established, but the powers given to the court then

are not the powers that exist today. Every single constitutional convention where a new amendment

was adopted was really trying to resolve problems that the court was facing at that time as Ohio

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