Pat DeWine

Richard Patrick DeWine is an American jurist who has served as a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court since 2017. He served as a justice of the 1st district of the Ohio District Courts of Appeals from 2013 to 2017 and as a politician in Hamilton County, Ohio. He is the son of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

Early life and education DeWine is the eldest of eight children born to Mike DeWine and Frances , and grew up in the Mount Lookout neighborhood of Cincinnati. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University, he graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 1994 and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

Career DeWine served as a member of the Cincinnati City Council and the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.

DeWine was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2005 Republican primary for Ohio's 2nd congressional district special election after Rob Portman resigned to become U.S. Trade Representative. His campaign for Congress suffered after allegations of infidelity surfaced against him.

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 in 2012, defeating Bruce Whitman.

DeWine took his seat on the Appellate bench in January 2013. He won an uncontested Republican primary election in March 2016 for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court, and defeated his Democratic opponent for the seat in November of that year. He was reelected to the Ohio Supreme Court in November 2022 for a second six-year term. Prior to his election as a justice, he 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.

Involvement in legislative redistricting cases 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, on which Governor DeWine sat.

Personal life DeWine's first marriage ended in divorce in 2003. He and his first wife have three sons.