Duke University School of Law issued the following announcement.
The race to fill a soon-to-be vacant seat on the Sixth District Court of Appeals features two candidates seeking to make history.
If Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Myron Duhart, a 51-year-old Democrat, wins Tuesday’s election, he would become the first African-American to hold a seat as an appellate judge for the Sixth District. The district is comprised of Erie, Fulton, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Williams, and Wood counties.
His opponent, Republican Charles Sulek, a litigation attorney with Eastman and Smith in Toledo, would become the youngest appellate judge in the state at age 32, should he win.
The candidates are seeking to fill the seat of Judge Arlene Singer, a Democrat, whose term expires on Feb. 9, 2021 and who is not eligible for re-election due to age restrictions.
Judge Duhart, a Toledo native and graduate of St. Francis de Sales High School, received an endorsement from the Lucas County Democratic Party. Mr. Sulek, a St. Clairsville, Ohio native who joined Eastman and Smith in 2018, was endorsed by the Lucas County Republican Party.
Judge Duhart is an Army veteran, who was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Army Judge General Corps, where he served as a lawyer for the Army. While he was enlisted he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wright State University and later earned a juris doctor degree from the University of Toledo. In 2018, he earned a master of law degree from Duke University. As a common pleas judge since 2011, Mr. Duhart said his experience has prepared him to ultimately take the next progression and become an appellate judge.
“I’ve had the opportunity to write thousands of opinions or judgement entries both criminally and civilly,” he said of his time as a trial court judge. “...Ultimately, I think experience at the trial court level is invaluable when making decisions in the court of appeals.”
Mr. Duhart said his philosophy is to uphold the law free from partiality no matter what case is before him.
“I have a saying that I live by and that is, I’m just a judge, I’m never judgmental,” Mr. Duhart said. “I believe a judge should uphold the rule of law and should make decisions fairly and impartially despite your station in life. One of the things that I would like to do is find ways to provide better access to the legal system by those in disparate and disenfranchised communities.”
Mr. Sulek received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Ohio State University, and a law degree from Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. In addition to his work as a litigation attorney, where he works on behalf of clients in trial and appellate courts, Mr. Sulek previously spent time as a judicial attorney for the Ohio Supreme Court, and as an attorney rules analyst for the Ohio General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. Despite not having any formal judicial experience, Mr. Sulek said it’s very common for candidates to go straight to the appellate bench, and he feels his qualifications line up with the position.
“I think what I lack in age, I more than make up for in experience,” Mr. Sulek said. “My experience and my judicial philosophy are what uniquely qualify me to hold the position.”
Mr. Sulek said good judges ensure that parties coming before them know they’re going to have an “even playing field.” It’s a philosophy he says is vital to upholding the law.
“I think a good judge has three qualities,” he said. “The first quality is that a judge should be making decisions based on the law, not on their personal or political preferences. The second quality I would say is scholarship in the sense that a judge should have some sort of objective neutral framework in in place that will allow them to make decisions based on the law. And the third quality is an appropriate demeanor.”
Election day, which includes Judge Duhart, and Mr. Sulek on the ballot, is Tuesday.
Original source can be found here.
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