Court Cases

Ohio lags behind other states in denying legal standing to unmarried, non-biological parents. Many states have abandoned biological interpretations of “parent” in shared parenting statutes, while others have adopted “de-facto parent” doctrines to allow same-sex couples to establish parentage claims.

The Ohio Constitution provides a right to counsel that is broader than the corresponding protection in the U.S. Constitution. When police interrogate a defendant alone, but for whom counsel has been appointed, they risk tricking the defendant into believing there is no lawyer available to help them.