Richard Patrick "Pat" DeWine (born February 22, 1968) is an American attorney, politician and jurist serving as an associate 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 ...

since 2017. He is the son of former

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

and

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state, 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 ...

and current

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Mike DeWine Richard Michael DeWine (; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th and current governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, DeWine began his career as a prosecutor before being elected to the O ...

Early life and education

DeWine is the oldest of eight children born to

and Frances Struewing. DeWine grew up in the Mount Lookout neighborhood of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

, he graduated ''cum laude'' from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of C ...

in 1994 and was inducted into the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

Career

DeWine served as a member of the Hamilton County

Board of Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...

and

Cincinnati City Council The Cincinnati City Council is the lawmaking body of Cincinnati, Ohio. The nine-member city council is elected at-large in a single election in which each voter chooses nine candidates from the field. The nine top vote-getters win seats on the cou ...

. He was first elected to city council in 1999, finishing sixth with 27,745 votes in a field of 20 (with the top nine elected). He was re-elected in 2001 (finishing second with 43,191 votes in a field of 26) and in 2003 (finishing sixth with 26,573 votes in a field of 26). He resigned from city council in order to take his seat on the Hamilton County Commission. Chris Monzel, a Republican who had lost his council seat in the last election, was appointed to fill out DeWine's term on city council. DeWine was a candidate in the June 14, 2005 Republican primary for the Ohio's 2nd congressional district special election after

Rob Portman Robert Jones Portman (born December 19, 1955) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Ohio since 2011. A member of the Republican Party ...

resigned to become U.S. Trade Representative. He placed fourth behind

Jean Schmidt Jeannette Mary Schmidt (née Hoffman; born November 29, 1951) is an American politician who is a state representative in Ohio's 65th district. She was a U.S. Representative for , serving from 2005 to 2013. She is a member of the Republican Part ...

Bob McEwen Robert D. McEwen (born January 12, 1950) is an American lobbyist and former Republican Party politician. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from southern Ohio's Sixth District, from January 3, 1981 to January 3, 199 ...

, and

Tom Brinkman Thomas E. Brinkman, Jr. (born December 6, 1957) is a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives from Cincinnati. He is known for his opposition to higher taxes and public spending. In 2014, Brinkman defeated incumbent Peter Stautber ...

. His campaign for Congress suffered after allegations of infidelity surfaced against DeWine.

State judicial career

DeWine sought and won election to the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in 2008, defeating Norma Holt Davis in the general election. He subsequently won a seat on the 1st District

Ohio District Courts of Appeals The Ohio District Courts of Appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the U.S. state of Ohio. The Ohio Constitution provides for courts of appeals that have jurisdiction to review final appealable orders. There are twelve appellate districts ...

in 2012, defeating Bruce Whitman in the November 6, 2012 election. DeWine took his seat on the Appellate bench in January 2013 after defeating Bruce Whitman in the November 2012 general election. He won an uncontested Republican primary election in March 2016 for a seat on the

commencing January 2, 2017. In November 2016 he won election to that seat over his Democratic opponent. Prior to his election as Associate Justice, he served as a Judge on the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals and the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas and was an associate for 13 years with the firm of Keating Muething & Klekamp. In August 2021, DeWine withdrew from the contest to be nominated as Ohio Supreme Court chief justice in succession to Chief Justice

Maureen O'Connor Maureen O'Connor (born August 7, 1951) is an American lawyer and judge serving as the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. She was elected to the court in 2002, becoming chief justice in 2010. Prior to this, O'Connor served as an associate ...

Involvement in legislative redistricting cases

Justice DeWine refused to recuse from a case in which his father, Governor Mike DeWine, was a party and helped author the minority opinion that would have upheld an unconstitutional gerrymander approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, of which Governor DeWine is the chairman.

Personal life

DeWine's first marriage ended in divorce in 2003. He and his ex-wife have three sons. He was married to his second wife, Rhonda DeWine, from 2010 until 2019 when she filed for divorce.

References

External links

League of Women Voters page on the raceCampaign siteOhio Supreme Court
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewine, Pat 1968 births 21st-century American judges American people of Irish descent Cincinnati City Council members Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court Living people Miami University alumni Ohio lawyers Ohio Republicans People from Hamilton County, Ohio University of Michigan Law School alumni