OH · rules
Ohio S.Ct.Prac.R. 4.04
Recusal or Disqualification of a Justice
(A) Definition
As used in this rule, “justice” means the Chief Justice or any justice of the Supreme Court
or any judge of the court of appeals assigned to sit in place of the Chief Justice or a justice
pursuant to Article IV, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution.
(B) Request to recuse
(1) A party to a case pending before the Supreme Court or the counsel for a party may
request the recusal of a justice by filing a request with the Clerk of the Supreme Court. The
request shall be in the form of a letter addressed to the Clerk that includes the name and
number of the case and the name of the justice whose recusal is being requested. The letter
shall be accompanied by an affidavit, signed by the party or party’s counsel, that includes
the specific basis for the recusal request and facts in support of the request. The filing party
shall serve the letter and affidavit as required by Rule 3.11(D).
(2) The request for recusal shall be filed promptly when a party or party’s counsel
becomes aware of the existence of a basis for recusal. In a case in which oral argument is
scheduled, the request for recusal shall be filed no later than fifteen days before the date of
oral argument, except with leave of court.
(3) A friend of the court shall not file a request for recusal.
(4) The Clerk shall refuse to file a request for recusal if it is illegible or fails to comply
with the requirements of this rule.
(C) Response to request
The justice named in the request shall submit a written response to the Clerk indicating
whether the justice will recuse from the case. The response of the justice shall be provided
to the Clerk as soon as practicable. The Clerk shall file the response of the justice and
serve a copy on all parties to the case.
(D) Disclosure to parties of a potential basis for disqualification; waiver
(1) A justice who believes there may be a basis for disqualification under Jud.Cond.R.
2.11 may disclose the basis for the disqualification and may ask the parties, exclusive of a
friend of the court, to consider whether to waive disqualification. The disclosure and
request shall be made in writing and submitted to the Clerk. The Clerk shall file the
disclosure and request and serve a copy on all parties to the case.
(2) The parties shall file responses with the Clerk within fifteen days after the
disclosure and request are filed. The failure of a party or counsel to respond timely to a
disclosure and request shall be considered a waiver of disqualification.
History
Effective Date: April 1, 2011 Amended: January 1, 2013; January 1, 2023; April 1, 2025
Provenance
- Source
- supremecourt.ohio.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-14
- Edition
- 2026-09-14
- Content hash
b2be142cfe02cdcc4de1fe2d3f6f2fb03b109503fa3f36ea909f21cfdb290f49
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.