Ohio NAACP, Elected Officials, and Advocates Challenge Ohio’s Stand Your Ground Law

Everytown Law represents the Ohio NAACP, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Ohio Representative Stephanie Howse, and Ohio Senator Cecil Thomas in a lawsuit alleging that the Ohio General Assembly violated the Ohio Constitution in passing new Stand Your Ground legislation.

Late at night, at the end of the 2020 lame duck session, the Ohio General Assembly inserted previously unpassable Stand Your Ground language into unrelated pending legislation. The lawsuit alleges that this tactic violated the Ohio Constitution. Passing legislation that eliminated the duty to retreat before using force in self-defense in public outraged legislators, civic organizations, and Ohio residents. Previous efforts to pass Stand Your Ground legislation faced widespread opposition in part this dangerous policy disproportionately and adversely affects persons of color.

Four plaintiffs–The Ohio State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, State Representative Stephanie Howse, and State Senator Cecil Thomas–have joined together to challenge the Stand Your Ground law under two provisions of the Ohio Constitution: the three-considerations rule, which requires that all bills be considered three times by both the House and the Senate without being vitally altered; and the one-subject rule, which requires that each bill passed by the General Assembly consist of only one subject.

Case Documents

Press