Paul E. Pfeifer (born October 15, 1942) is an American politician and jurist. He served in both houses of the

Ohio General Assembly The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Colu ...

as a member of the

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Republican party and was most recently an associate justice of the

Supreme Court of Ohio The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, ...

Background

Pfeifer was born in Bucyrus in 1942. He grew up on his family's dairy farm near Bucyrus. As a teenager, he raised purebred Yorkshire hogs to finance his college education. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics, political science, and history in 1963 from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. In 1966, he also earned a law degree from the College of Law. Pfeifer owns a cattle farm in

Crawford County Crawford County is the name of eleven counties in the United States: * Crawford County, Arkansas * Crawford County, Georgia * Crawford County, Illinois * Crawford County, Indiana * Crawford County, Iowa * Crawford County, Kansas * Crawford County, ...

, near his childhood home. Pfeifer and his wife Julia have three children and four grandchildren. From 1967 to 1970, he worked as an assistant attorney general under

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio attorney general is the chief legal officer of the state of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio attorney general is Republican Dave Yost. History The office of the att ...

William B. Saxbe. Pfeifer practiced law – tax and trial law – as a partner with the firm Cory, Brown & Pfeifer from 1972 to 1992. From 1973 to 1976, he also served as an assistant to the

prosecutor.

Political career

Ohio House of Representatives

In 1970, Pfeifer was elected to the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

. Pfeifer served as an Ohio state representative from 1971 to 1972. In 1976, he successfully ran for a seat in the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

. Pfeifer was re-elected in 1980, 1984, and 1988. From 1983 to 1984, Pfeifer was minority floor leader and from 1985 to 1986, with a Republican majority in the Senate, Pfeifer became Assistant President Pro Tempore.

Election bids

In 1982, Pfeifer ran for the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

, but was defeated by incumbent Democrat Howard Metzenbaum. In 1990, Pfeifer ran for Ohio attorney general, losing to Democrat

Lee Fisher Lee Irwin Fisher (born August 7, 1951) is an American attorney, politician, and academic. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 64th lieutenant governor of Ohio under governor Ted Strickland from 2007 until 2011. Fisher previously ...

by a narrow margin of just over 1,200 votes. Claiming that there were discrepancies between the total number of ballots cast and the number of signatures in the polling books, Pfeifer appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court to review the results, but the court refused.

Ohio Supreme Court justice

In 1992, Pfeifer was elected to the

Ohio Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, ...

, defeating John T. Patton. In 1998, he was re-elected to the court, defeating Ronald Suster. Pfeifer was unopposed in his bid for re-election in 2004 and 2010. He retired January 1, 2017 when he was forced to leave the court after exceeding the age of 70, the mandatory retirement age for judges in Ohio. Pfeifer, as the longest serving associate Justice, became acting Chief Justice on April 2, 2010 upon the death of Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. Pfeifer remained in that capacity until May 3, 2010, when Franklin County Probate Court Judge Eric Brown, who was appointed Chief Justice by Governor

Ted Strickland Theodore Strickland (born August 4, 1941) is an American politician who served as the 68th governor of Ohio from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ( ...

, took office. Although nominally Republican, Pfeifer was often aligned with the Democratic minority on the Court.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfeifer, Paul 1942 births Living people 20th-century Ohio state court judges 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Ohio politicians 20th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly 21st-century American judges American prosecutors Candidates in the 1982 United States elections Candidates in the 1990 United States elections Justices of the Supreme Court of Ohio Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Ohio State University Moritz College of Law alumni People from Bucyrus, Ohio Republican Party Ohio state senators Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives