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What’s On Their Minds: Blowin’ Smoke. A Constitutional Challenge to Ohio’s Smoke Free Workplace Law. Jackson v. Bartec, Inc. — 2 Comments

  1. The Court promised a decision on the smoking ban case by the end of the year…Here we are half way through March and still no decision. Any ideas on what the hold up is?

    • Jeffrey,
      The Court doesn’t usually make promises about when cases will be decided—I’d be interested in knowing where and when the Court made such a promise? Your question is a good one, and I wish I had a pat answer for you. The Court doesn’t necessarily decide cases in the order in which it hears them. For example it has already decided a couple of cases it heard more recently than the smoking ban case, including the constitutionality of the making an unreasonable noise section of the disorderly conduct statute (State v. Carrick). And it still has under submission a couple of cases that are older than the smoking ban case, including one, American Chemical Society v. Leadscope, that I know many people are really anxious about. Sometimes when there isn’t unanimity, it takes awhile for the respective positions to be sorted out. And sometimes when a draft of the opinion is circulated, justices may change their minds and switch sides, which causes things to take longer.
      MBB