COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court dealt a blow to Republican Attorney General Dave Yost on Wednesday, ruling that he overstepped his authority by rejecting a ballot petition on a ballot amendment only because he opposed the title.

In a unanimous decision, the court sided with a coalition of civil rights organizations behind the “Ohio Voter’s Bill of Rights” and ordered Yost to review its January decision within 10 days.

However, the justice did not order Yost to take the constitutional amendment directly to the state Election Commission, which the plaintiffs requested. Instead, they directed him to “do his duty” and review the coalition’s brief on the matter for fairness and accuracy.

Coalition members, including the Ohio chapter of the NAACP, the A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, originally hoped to place the measure on this year’s ballot. The package of election law changes responded to Ohio’s passage last year of stricter photo ID requirements, shortened windows after Election Day for returning and curing ballots and other voting changes.

The groups sued after Yost’s second denial of their certification petition, the title of which he called “grossly misleading and misrepresenting” the content of the measure. Yost issued the ruling even though he acknowledged that his office had previously certified identical language. It certified a Health Care Patient Bill of Rights in 2021 and another Ohio Voter Bill of Rights in 2014.

But he said in his rejection letter that “recent authority from the Ohio Supreme Court” gave him the ability to review petition titles in addition to reviewing the bodies of briefs as he has traditionally done. Yost pointed to the High Court’s decision in a legal dispute last year over title that came up in local injunction petitions.

The court said it had no such authority under Ohio law.

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