After the Ohio Senate unanimously voted in support of a jointresolution to re-ratify the 14th Amendment three weeks ago, some House Republicans are considering adding language that might stall Ohio’s efforts at joining the rest of the country in officially supporting the amendment.

In 1867, Ohio was the seventh state to ratify the amendment. When the anti-emancipation Democrats were voted into office the following year, Ohio withdrew its consent of the amendment. The legality of that action is still debated.

The amendment was officially ratified in July of 1868 by three-fourths of the then 36 states. In 1980, New Jersey ratified it, leaving just Ohio.

Representative Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, said he is in support of the application of the 14th Amendment but argues with some of its historical uses.

“Some federal judges have misapplied the (14th) amendment and have used it as a portal to federal jurisdiction,” Grendell said. “In the matter of Roe v. Wade, the federal courts used the 14th Amendment to consider a case they never should have had jurisdiction over.”

Some Republicans say the following should be included in the ratification of the amendment: “The 14th Amendment’s extension of the protections of the Bill of Rights to citizens … is laudable and just. However, in ratifying the amendment, we ask the courts remain mindful of the rights of the states reserved in the 10th Amendment … and we do not ratify the prior judicial misapplication of the 14th Amendment.”

The ratification issue came to light when Cincinnati law students delved into the historical significance of the amendment. Jack Chin, the Rufus King professor of law at the University of Cincinnati, said it is an important obligation for Ohio to pass the resolution, just like all 49 states did previously.

“Ohio should not single itself out by not passing this amendment as it is written in the Constitution,” Chin said. “Just because some disagree with specific decisions in the judicial process, doesn’t mean the Constitution is wrong — judges are human.”

State Sen. Mark Mallory, D-Cincinnati, sponsored the resolution to ratify the amendment. He said he just wants the symbolic support of the amendment to pass, regardless of politics and individual opinion.

“I am disturbed by the conversation of adding language to the 14th Amendment,” Mallory said. “It’s an embarrassment to prolong support towards an amendment that was integral as the foundation for American Liberty and equal rights under the law.”