(The Center Square) – Three months after turning away a proposed constitutional amendment that would end qualified immunity in Ohio, Attorney General Dave Yost approved the proposal.
Yost accepted the untitled petition for the amendment after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled late last month he could not consider a title when determining if a summary of a petition is fair and truthful, accurately reflecting the proposed law or amendment.
Yost reevaluated the summary only, saying it is fair and truthful, but reiterated his stance that he believes a summary without a title is misleading.
“I stand by my position that the title of a proposed constitutional amendment is an indispensable piece to determining whether the summary of it is fair and truthful,” he wrote in a letter to the group pushing for the amendment.
The amendment would end qualified immunity, sovereign immunity, prosecutorial immunity and other immunities provided to public employees or government subdivisions given to the state. It would allow for lawsuits with no limit on economic or noneconomic damages.
That proposed amendment would repeal constitutional immunities and defenses in cases alleging civil rights violations by governmental units and public employees.
The Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity said immunity has led to a lack of accountability for law enforcement officers and has stopped citizens from “seeking justice” for the misconduct of rogue officers.
The court unanimously told Yost he wrongly considered a citizen-led amendment’s title when he rejected the Ohio Voters Bill of Rights proposal in late January. Yost is a Republican, as is the majority of the bench.
The court said Yost can only review the summary of the petition, not the title and certify it as either fair and truthful statement before it can move on to the next step in the process.
The submitted title of the proposed amendment was “Secure and Fair Elections.”