State ex rel. Taft v. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas

I

Constitutionality; General Considerations

As with any constitutional challenge, general precepts must guide our analysis.

“The first step in determining the meaning of a constitutional provision is to look at the language of the provision itself. Where the meaning of a provision is clear on its face, we will not look beyond the provision in an attempt to divine what the drafters intended it to mean.” State ex rel. Maurer v. Sheward (1994), 71 Ohio St.3d 513, 520-521, 644 N.E.2d 369, 375. Words used in the Constitution that are not defined therein must be taken in their usual, normal, or…