Melody J. Stewart (born February 19, 1962) is a justice of the

Ohio Supreme Court The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as 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 ...

. She formerly served as a Judge on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals. Stewart was elected to the

in 2018, having defeated incumbent Justice

Mary DeGenaro Mary DeGenaro (born April 25, 1961) is a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Biography DeGenaro received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Youngstown State University in 1983 and her Juris Doctor from the Cleveland-Marshall Co ...

Education

Stewart earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

; her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

as a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow from the

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a Public university, public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. The school traces its origins to Cleveland Law School (founded in 1897), which merged in ...

; and her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

as a Mandel Leadership Fellow at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

’s

Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences is a school of social work, one of the six professional schools within the Case Western Reserve University system, located in the University Circle in Cleveland, OH. Established in ...

State judicial career

She was first elected to the Ohio District Court of Appeals in 2006 and twice re-elected.

Ohio Supreme Court

On November 8, 2018, Stewart faced incumbent

in the general election for a seat on the Supreme Court. She won the seat 52.5% to 47.5%. She is the first African-American woman elected to the Supreme Court.

Teaching

She worked as a lecturer, an adjunct instructor, and an assistant dean at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law before joining the faculty. Her primary teaching areas were ethics and professional responsibility, criminal law, criminal procedure, and legal research, writing, and advocacy. Additionally, she taught at the

University of Toledo College of Law The University of Toledo College of Law is the law school at the University of Toledo, and is located on the university's main campus in a residential neighborhood in western Toledo, Ohio. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Associ ...

, at Ursuline College, and was Director of Student Services at Case Western Reserve University's School of Law.

References

External links