Ohio Supreme Court again rejects lawsuit seeking $900 million in pandemic unemployment payments

The Ohio Supreme Court has again rejected a lawsuit seeking roughly $900 million in federal pandemic-era unemployment payments for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans, agreeing with the state that the case became moot after the federal program expired in 2021.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine ended Ohio’s participation in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program in May 2021, several months before the federal program expired that September.

Plaintiffs representing roughly 300,000 Ohioans have argued that DeWine lacked the authority to withdraw from the program because Ohio law required the state to secure available federal unemployment benefits.

The court reached a similar conclusion in 2022, but the dispute continued through lower courts.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook sided with the plaintiffs in 2025, ruling DeWine had a legal obligation to continue participating in the federal program. The Tenth District Court of Appeals later upheld the decision, and the state appealed, maintaining that the expiration of the federal program made the dispute moot.

Marc Dann, a former Democratic Ohio attorney general who represents the plaintiffs, said he plans to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its latest ruling. Dann said the case raises a broader question about the limits of a governor’s authority even apart from the disputed unemployment money.

“The governor is essentially saying he has broad executive power and the ability to ignore statutes that were very specific and enacted by the Ohio General Assembly, and we don’t think that’s what Ohio’s constitution provides for,” Dann told the Statehouse News Bureau.

Dann said the dispute could have implications for the relationship between future governors and the General Assembly.

“We’re going to have a new governor and a new legislature, and the issue of separation of powers, where the governor’s executive authority ends and the legislature’s begins, is very, very important,” Dann said.

Dann said approximately 300,000 Ohioans could receive roughly $3,000 each if the disputed federal money were obtained and distributed.

Dann said the federal money remains available and that Ohio would need to request it from the federal government.

“The court may be misapprehending the fact that the money that was appropriated under the CARES Act is still available to the Ohioans who were on unemployment and we’re going to raise that issue with them, but we’re pretty close to the end at this point,” Dann said.

Congress created the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program as part of its response to the economic disruption caused by COVID-19. The supplemental payments ultimately expired nationwide in September 2021.

Ohio was among 26 states that withdrew from the additional federal unemployment payments before their nationwide expiration.

DeWine’s administration argued at the time that the additional payments were no longer necessary as businesses reopened and employers struggled to fill available jobs.

“The July 2021 to September 2021 time period referenced was after the pandemic emergency had ended,” DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney previously said, according to WKYC-TV⁠.

“In recent years, including those in question, Ohio has had more open jobs than workers to fill them,” Tierney said. “Providing emergency supplemental benefits well after the conditions necessitating them had ended was sending the wrong message when Ohio was open for business.”

Dann said the plaintiffs will now ask the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider Friday’s decision, though he acknowledged the case may be approaching its conclusion.

“That’s up to the Supreme Court whether they’ll accept our motion to reconsider,” Dann said.