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Ohio’s solicitor general moves on after arguing big cases involving abortion and other state policy
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The state’s solicitor general is leaving that job.
Flowers is stepping down from that post to become a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge, a Cincinnati-based firm that specializes in representing entrepreneurs, small businesses and local governments. Last year, the firm filed in federal court for parents in the Bethel Local Schools in Miami County who opposed the policy of allowing students to use the restroom that aligns with their preferred gender identity.
The announcement comes a few days after he argued a case that both sides agree is critical in abortion policy in Ohio.
“Basically, this has been my dream job since even before I moved back to Ohio in 2015. So it’s been a hard decision to leave. I’m definitely going to miss it,” Flowers said. “I’m going to miss the people I work with, but a) I need to go support my family and financially, public service is not as lucrative as private practice and then b) and this is also important, it’s just time for a new challenge.”
Flowers is Ohio’s 10th solicitor general, a job he came to after working in the private sector and before that, clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Flowers cited as a big win last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the federal COVID vaccine mandate on employers – which he argued remotely after testing positive for COVID. He also noted as another important case he argued was the ban on abortion after a diagnosis of Down syndrome, which a federal appeals court upheld in 2021.
Just this week he argued for the state in the Ohio Supreme Court, saying doctors who provide abortions didn’t have standing to sue over Ohio’s six week abortion ban.