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MEET JUSTICE JENNIFER BRUNNER
Experienced. Trusted. Transformative.
Justice Jennifer Brunner has served at all three levels of Ohio’s judiciary. Before her election to the Ohio Supreme Court in 2020, she was a judge of Ohio’s Tenth District Court of Appeals for 6 years. She also was a judge of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for the state’s most populous county, for nearly 5 years. While a trial judge in Franklin County, she became concerned about the high percent of people in the criminal justice system who were addicted to drugs and experienced mental illness. She founded in 2004 the county’s adult felony drug court, still operating today. This special court docket helps people move from crime and addiction to clean and healthy lives and give back to their families and communities.
Jennifer Brunner is one of just 5 women to be elected to statewide nonjudicial office in her own right since Ohio became a state in 1803. She is the first Democratic woman in Ohio to have been elected to two statewide offices Ohio Secretary of State and Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. She is Ohio’s first and only female Secretary of State.
One of the Few Public Officials in History
to Earn the JFK Profile in Courage Award.
Justice Brunner values public service. She was recognized in 2008 by the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston when it awarded her the Profile in Courage Award for her work as Ohio Secretary of State. This international award has been called the most prestigious award for elected public officials. Others who have received this award include Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Laureate, U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama, Congressman John Lewis, and the Public Servants of September 11.
A Global Leader for Democracy
and Human Rights —
Strengthening the Rule of Law
from Ohio to the World.
Justice Brunner has served USAID and the U.S. State Department to help governments in Serbia, Egypt and Benin with anti-corruption, election integrity and human rights. She has also taught classes on the rule of law to lawyers in Sri Lanka and to civil society groups in Kazakhstan. Justice Brunner understands how judges can promote and strengthen the rule of law to promote peace and democracy at home and around the world. Justice Brunner is now studying remotely at the University of York in the UK for a Ph.D. in Sociology. Her research centers on the return of artefacts looted during colonial occupations and why this is important.
From a Bedroom Corner Law Office
to The Supreme Court —
Powered by Hard Work, Family,
and Ohio Values.
Justice Brunner has been an attorney since 1983. She worked for 17 years in private practice, starting her own law firm from the corner of her bedroom when her children were 7, 4 and 2. She had her first child while in law school. A native of Springfield, Ohio, Justice Brunner has been married to attorney Rick Brunner since 1978, when she graduated from Miami University of Ohio. They have 6 grandchildren, 2 dogs and 2 cats and spend time at their homes in Powell and in rural Columbiana County in Northeast Ohio.