COLUMBUS — Justice Alice Robie Resnick infuriated Republicans and their allied business interests with a series of 4-3 decisions that cast out lawsuit reforms and tougher worker compensation rules.

        She also wrote two decisions ordering the state to spend millions more on schools.

        Judge Terrence O'Donnell pitched himself to voters as someone who would interpret laws from the bench, not write new ones. That message was intended to show voters and supporters he'd have ruled differently in those cases.

        The race between Justice Resnick and Judge O'Donnell raised tough questions about the integrity of the court system, and the way judicial campaigns should be run.

        Judges are restrained by ethics rules not to say or do anything that would indicate how they would decide cases. Those rules do not apply to special interest groups, which were able to skirt state campaign finance laws to play a dominant role in this race.

        The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a group called Citizens for a Strong Ohio spent up to $4 million on ads questioning Justice Resnick's record. The most controversial were two commercials that claimed the justice often ruled in favor of trial lawyers who had given to her campaign, and even reversed herself in a case after a state labor leader complained.

        Those ads prompted Democratic party leaders, and groups representing Ohio's unions, trial lawyers and teachers to spend more than $1 million on ads defending Justice Resnick.

        The business-interest ads set a new spending record for high court races, inspired a wave of controversy and several legal complaints intended to make both groups reveal finances and donors.

        Experts predict these issue advocacy commercials will reappear in court races.

        “Absolutely,” said Lawrence Baum, a professor at the Ohio State University who specializes in judicial politics. “How much it will continue will depend in part on how successful these groups were.”

        That troubles Seth Andersen, an ethics expert with the Chicago-base American Judicature Society. He worries such ads will give voters an impression that judges are bound to special interests instead of the law.

Portune ousts Bedinghaus
Stadium deal defined commission race
Chabot holds off Cranley
Cincinnati school levy passes
Confusion over where to vote
Hamilton County issues
Other Hamilton County races
Other Hamilton County school levies
DeWine coasts to re-election
Driehaus keeps House seat for Dems
Environmental issue wins in Ohio
GOP wins Ohio Senate races
Local judge loses Supreme Court bid
Portman wins easy re-election
Resnick holds off challenge for bench
Supreme Court campaign tests system's integrity
Taft: Volunteers delivered Ohio win to Bush
Boehner wins sixth term
Butler County issues
Boone replaces property valuation administrator
Callery denies Moorman return to mayor
Campbell County races
Clermont County issues
Covington school chairman ousted
Crockett ends Buring's long reign
Draud prepares for second term
Edmondson, Bohman join Covington Commission
Furmon, Fox hold commission seats
Incumbents win 23 of 34 school board seats
Incumbents win four of six Florence seats
Kenner completes GOP hold on commission
Kentucky re-elects six to Congress
Ky. rewards Bush for frequent visits
Little Miami school levy fails
Long lines at voting booths
Lucas cruises back to Congress
Machine's votes counted twice
Newcomers wrest control of Ludlow council
Other Butler County races
Other Kenton County races
Piper claims hard-won victory
Strickland trounces GOP challenger
Walker elected to Clermont Co. commission
Warren County issues
Waynesville mayor recalled
Westwood, Roeding win Ky. Senate seats
Woltenberg retains role as court clerk