A constitutional amendment proposal that aims to eliminate qualified immunity for police officers and other government workers is now under consideration by the Ohio Ballot Board.
Following a significant setback at the U.S. Supreme Court, Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Tuesday that he was setting aside his objections and permitting the advancement of the proposed constitutional amendment, which seeks to abolish qualified immunity for police officers and other government employees.
Yost’s decision coincided with the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of a request to halt a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. This injunction supported the supporters of the amendment in their argument that their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech may have been infringed upon.
With Ohio’s nearly century-old ballot initiative process at risk of being permanently declared unconstitutional, Yost moved immediately to dismiss the appeal he had filed in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Yost, who is also running for governor in 2026, had repeatedly rejected proposed summary language for the measure as not being a fair and accurate representation of what the measure would do.
However, lower courts found that he had placed a “severe burden” on organizers when it came to communicating with voters and meeting the filing deadline. They also rejected Yost’s argument that the case belonged to the Ohio Supreme Court.
“Dave Yost has demonstrated that he can’t be trusted with that amount of power,” said Mark Brown, an attorney for the organizers. “It’s a lot of power to give any state official, especially an elected official. The Supreme Court made the right decision.”
Yost issued a statement saying he planned to work with the Republican-supermajority state Legislature to craft legislation “to reform the ballot initiative summary process to protect the integrity of Ohio’s elections and freedom of speech.”
The constitutional amendment would end qualified immunity, special legal protections that prevent people from suing over claims that police or government workers violated their constitutional rights. It proceeds next to the Ohio Ballot Board.
