Alice Robie Resnick

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Alice Robie Resnick is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. In 1988, she was elected as only the second woman in Ohio to serve on the state bench, and was subsequently reelected in 1994 and 2000. Her career has included experience as a private attorney, county prosecutor, municipal judge, and as a judge on the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals.

One of her most controversial opinions was the 4-3 majority ruling that Ohio's school funding system was unconstitutional. Her body of other opinions often angered the Ohio Republican majority in government, as well as the business community, particularly the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

In 2000, she was opposed by Terrence O'Donnell, in a massive, though unsuccessful, campaign. In 2005, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce revealed a list of 300 illegal donors, totaling 4.2 million dollars in contributions. Terrence O'Donnell was later appointed to the state bench to fill an uncompleted term.

On January 31, 2005, she was arrested by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for DUI. Several motorist had used cell phones to call in a Jeep Grand Cherokee showing erratic driving. State police confronted her in a gas station and she refused a field sobriety test, resulting in the 1 year automatic suspension of her license. After refusal she ignored police orders to remain at the gas station and drove off. She was pulled over a few minutes later and failed a sobriety test. Justice Resnick registered a Blood Alcohol Concentration of 0.22, just under three times the legal limit in the state of Ohio. A dashboard camera recorded the incident and much of the audio showing Justice Resnick trying to use her office to get out of the DUI charge appeared on the internet. She was convicted of DUI, a first degree misdemeanor, required to take a 3 day alcohol education program, and her license was suspended for 6 months, overriding the automatic suspension of 1 year. She was not charged with failure to comply with a police officer, resisting arrest, or fleeing from police. A new state law also implemented a mandatory jail sentence for offenders who refuse a sobriety test and show greater than a 0.17 BAC. The incident and subsequent slap on the wrist penalty sparked a wave of public criticism, especially after portions of the 90 minute videotape surfaced on various internet video websites. ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]