Articles - Sharon L. Kennedy

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon L. Kennedy gave the keynote address at the Sandusky Rotary Club meeting on March 6, 2014.

"All of us could learn from the Rotarian Code of Ethics, for if we use truth to advance fairness for all people, it will build goodwill and better friendships and in the end be beneficial for all of mankind," Justice Kennedy said during her remarks.

She went on to observe how the principles expressed in the Rotary Four-Way Test are some of the very same principles which were held by America's founders.

"The unalienable rights we cherish, which are the foundational aspirations of the American Dream—the ability to do and become whatever one desires—are the very heart of goodwill," Justice Kennedy told those in attendance.

She pointed out that it is the individual responsibility of every citizen to help maintain goodwill by the laws that they help to enact.

"It is you who create the laws that govern Ohioans and help establish the rules requiring us to act or refrain from acting in a particular manner in order to preserve every person's rights. In that we build goodwill and better friendships; for no man has a superior right than another."

Justice Kennedy is serving her first term on the Supreme Court of Ohio. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Justice Kennedy served on the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division from 1999 to 2012. Justice Kennedy served as the administrative judge there from 2005 until December 2012. Justice Kennedy began her career in the justice system as a police officer in Hamilton, Ohio. She received her law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.