YOUNGSTOWN — Republican Appeals Court Judge Mark A. Hanni filed a motion to intervene in a federal case filed by a Democratic Ohio Supreme Court justice that seeks to overturn a 2021 law requiring party affiliation for upper-court judicial candidates.

Hanni of the 7th District Court of Appeals, who is running for a different seat on the court in the May 5 primary, said he opposes Justice Jennifer Brunner’s lawsuit against state officials and wants to intervene “to make sure that the argument of free speech is initiated and heard by the court.”

Hanni filed the motion Friday. It is up to Judge Benita Y. Pearson, who is overseeing Brunner’s case, to decide if Hanni will be permitted to intervene.

Hanni said Brunner is “trying to suppress free speech,” and that she is “bitter” about losing the 2022 state Supreme Court chief justice race to Republican Sharon L. Kennedy.

Hanni said: “A candidate’s political identity is not meaningless. It is information voters routinely consider. Removing it doesn’t protect speech – it reduces it.”

Hanni said: “This case presents a simple but important question. If the Constitution protects political speech, why would the remedy be to remove it from the ballot?”

Hanni said he doesn’t know if Pearson would permit him to intervene, but he anticipates getting approval. Hanni said the secretary of state’s office asked him to submit an affidavit.

If Pearson doesn’t permit him to intervene, Hanni said he would file a separate lawsuit.

Hanni, who was elected in 2022, is running in the GOP primary on the 7th District bench. David “Chip” Comstock Jr., an attorney and Western Reserve Joint Fire District chief, is also running in the Republican primary for that position.

Asked about his request to intervene coming during early voting and less than two weeks from the primary, Hanni said he just recently learned about this case – filed Nov. 7, 2023.

Hanni said: “Maybe I was remiss in not knowing about it prior to, but it gives me standing because I am an appellate judge and I am seeking election right now and it would affect my race in November if the court decided to not have the Democrat and Republican Party affiliation on the ballot. I really just found out about it six months ago so it took me a few months, plus I’m campaigning in eight counties so it’s eating up a lot of my time; plus my duties here at the court of appeals comes first.”

Hanni said: “This has nothing to do with the current (primary). This is fast forward to November.”

Comstock questioned the timing, saying the case is nearly two-and-a half-years old.

“It has not been a secret in the legal community that Justice Brunner did so because she’s recused herself from every disciplinary case pending before the court because she sued the disciplinary counsel,” Comstock said. “I would certainly expect a sitting judge to know that fact.”

Comstock added: “If my opponent has known about this case for six months, why does he wait one week before the election to file a motion to intervene, which the court might not accept because the case has been pending for so long? If he files a motion to intervene, how is that news until he’s enjoined to the case?”

Hanni said despite Brunner filing the case in 2023, it hasn’t progressed.

“The case is still in the primary stages and I believe that the court will allow” me to intervene, Hanni said. “They have not held depositions.”

Brunner filed the complaint against the secretary of state, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and the Board of Professional Conduct contending the law that requires party affiliation on the general election ballot for candidates running for the Ohio Supreme Court or courts of appeal violates the free speech, due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

Brunner filed the lawsuit after losing the 2022 chief justice race to Kennedy during the first election in which the party affiliation law took effect. Running with the Republican affiliation in that same election, Hanni defeated Gene Donofrio, a 30-year Democratic incumbent.

For more than 160 years before the 2022 election, judicial candidates for Supreme Court and appeals courts in Ohio ran in partisan primaries and then without party affiliation in general elections.

In the two elections before that, Democrats won three seats on the Supreme Court and for years won races on the 7th District Court of Appeals, based in Youngstown, as well as the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals.

Since the 2022 election, Republicans have won every Supreme Court race. Democrats haven’t had a candidate file for either of the two local appeals court races in 2024 or 2026, except for Katherine E. Rudzik running in the May 5 primary as a write-in candidate. Rudzik would face the winner of the Hanni-Comstock primary in the November general election.

The 7th District includes Mahoning, Columbiana, Belmont, Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe and Noble. While Mahoning is the district’s most-populous and a toss-up county, the rest of the district is solidly Republican.