COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court justices reviewing the state's latest school-funding reform plan are divided as much by personality and background as by political parties.

        Five of the court's seven seats are filled by Republicans, but party labels fall far short of describing this court, said Louis Jacobs, a law professor at Ohio State University.

        “The Ohio Supreme Court is sharply divided at this point with generally a 4-3 (majority) on the most controversial issues,” said Mr. Jacobs, who has argued before the justices.

THE JUSTICES

Here is a look at the seven Ohio Supreme Court justices who must decide if the state's new $1.4 billion reform plan makes the state's system of funding schools constitutional:    • Thomas J. Moyer, 62, Republican. Chief justice since 1987; eight years as appeals court judge; four years as executive assistant to former Gov. James Rhodes; eight years in private practice.    • Andrew Douglas, 68, Republican. Justice since 1985; 6th District Ohio Court of Appeals, Toledo, 1981-84; Toledo City Council, 1961-80.    • Deborah L. Cook, 49, Republican. Justice since 1995; 9th District Ohio Court of Appeals, Akron, 1991-94; private practice, 1976-91.    • Paul E. Pfeifer, 58, Republican. Justice since 1993; state senator, 1976-92; assistant Crawford County prosecutor, 1973-76; state representative, 1970-72, assistant Ohio attorney general, 1967-70.    • Alice Robie Resnick, 62, Democrat. In 1988 was second woman elected to the Ohio Supreme Court; 6th District Ohio Court of Appeals, Toledo, 1983-89; Toledo Municipal Court, 1976-83; assistant Lucas County prosecutor, 1964-75.    • Evelyn L. Stratton, 48, Republican. Appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court in March 1996; Franklin County Common Pleas Court, 1989-96; private practice, 1979-88.    • Francis E. Sweeney, 67, Democrat. Justice since 1993; 8th District Ohio Court of Appeals, Cleveland, 1988-93.

        In two landmark school-funding decisions (1997 and 2000), Republican Justices Paul Pfeifer and Andrew Douglas joined Democratic Justices Alice Robie Resnick and Francis Sweeney in declaring the state's funding system unconstitutional because it relies too much on local property taxes.

        This same majority threw out a state law intended to limit jury awards in personal injury and medical malpractice lawsuits. The justices overturned another law requiring workers to show their employers intentionally injured them before they could win an injury lawsuit.

        Justices Pfeifer and Douglas join this majority because they get support from traditionally Democratic sources, said Benson Wolman, a former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

        Justice Pfeifer, a state senator for 16 years, has ties to trial lawyers and has been criticized for his positions by his Republican peers.

        Justice Douglas, a longtime Toledo councilman, has support from organized labor, a strong force in his Democratic hometown.

        The justice said he forged his first union ties when he worked for the Kroger Co. in his late high school and early college years.

        Justice Pfeifer grew up outside Bucyrus, a small, north-central Ohio town not far from where he lives today. He said his past as a lawmaker and “Main Street” lawyer helps him recognize the real-world implications of each case.

        That contrasts with fellow Republican Justice Deborah Cook, one of three who dissented in the school funding case. The two justices who joined her were Justice Stratton and Chief Justice Thomas Moyer.

        “I seek to judge according to the law as it is written by those who are charged with enacting laws,” said Justice Cook, nominated this year to the federal bench.

        She accuses fellow justices of overreaching into General Assembly realm.

        Justice Resnick has been a lightning rod for frank talk on school funding. The lawsuit-reform case was the target of Republicans and business interests, which spent unprecedented millions to defeat her during the 2000 re-election campaign.
       

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