Supreme Court of Ohio

“ Some cases in the circuit courts have been ruled the other way, and the decision of the supreme court of Ohio was put largely on their authority; but they were all decided before Hess v. Reynolds, supra, in this court, and that case, as we think, substantially covers this. ”

“ Both motions were denied, the joint trial and conviction of the defendants followed, and in proceedings duly had in which the constitutional question was raised, their conviction was sustained by the Supreme Court of Ohio. ”

“ While the majority refuses to act on the denial here by claiming that appellants failed to challenge it in the Ohio Supreme Court or in their appeal to this Court, the record convinces me that the matter has been properly raised for our consideration. When a person is to be imprisoned as the result of a proceeding in which he was denied his constitutional rights, we should not be anxious to conclude that he has failed to raise the constitutional questions in the correct procedural form. ”

“ We hold that it does not. The Elections Clause does not insulate state legislatures from the ordinary exercise of state judicial review.
A
We first considered the interplay between state constitutional provisions and a state legislature’s exercise of authority under the Elections Clause in Ohio ex rel. Davis v. Hildebrant, 241 U. S. 565 (1916) . There, we examined the application to the Elections Clause of a provision of the Ohio Constitution permitting the State’s voters “to approve or disapprove by popular vote any law enacted by the General Assembly.” ”

“ Woolsey, decided at this term. We therefore reverse the decision of the supreme court of Ohio, and direct a mandate to be issued accordingly.
Mr. Justice CATRON, Mr. Justice DANIEL, and Mr. Justice CAMPBELL dissented. ”

“ By the constitution of Ohio, the judicial power of the state is vested in a supreme court, courts of common pleas, and justices of the peace. The common pleas is invested with jurisdiction of all probate and testamentary matters, granting of administration, &c. ”

“ Although I agree that the limited information before us appears to indicate that the Ohio Supreme Court erred in its decision below, I continue to believe that summary dispositions deprive litigants of a fair opportunity to be heard on the merits and significantly increase the risk of an erroneous decision. ”

“ In view of our decision in Burns as to the validity of the former Ohio practice, and Ohio's conformance, as we are advised, to the requirements of that decision, we think that the District Court should suspend a hearing on the writ for a reasonable time to allow petitioner to reapply to the Ohio Supreme Court for consideration of his appeal. ”