On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, nonprofit organization Fix the Court reported on a series of events involving Judge Michael Watson of the Southern District of Ohio and his handling of cases related to Ohio State University (OSU). The report highlights a potential conflict of interest due to Watson’s position as a part-time instructor at OSU’s Moritz College of Law and his wife’s business, The Flag Lady’s Flag Store, which has a licensing agreement with OSU.

Fix the Court initially raised concerns about Judge Watson’s impartiality in its July 2025 report, “Conflict U.,” which examined federal judges with part-time teaching positions at law schools who had not recused themselves in cases involving their affiliated universities. Judge Watson was among the 24 judges identified in the report.

The organization noted that Watson had not consistently recused himself from cases involving Ohio State University, despite his ties to the institution. In addition to his teaching role, his wife’s business generates revenue through the sale of OSU-trademarked merchandise, with a portion of the proceeds going to the university.

Concerns regarding Watson’s impartiality were previously raised in the Strauss litigation, a series of cases involving allegations of abuse against former OSU physician Richard Strauss. Plaintiffs in the Strauss litigation filed a motion for Watson’s recusal on September 15, 2021, which Watson subsequently denied. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Watson’s decision on February 15, 2023, allowing him to continue presiding over the Strauss cases.

Since the Sixth Circuit’s ruling, Judge Watson has been assigned 12 additional cases involving OSU as a party. Six of these cases were related to the Strauss litigation, while the other six were not.

On February 6, 2023, Watson was assigned the case of Dehen v. OSU. In this case, a week after the Sixth Circuit ruling, Watson issued an order asking the parties to consider whether his connections to OSU warranted his recusal. He cited his teaching position at the Moritz College of Law and his wife’s licensing agreement with OSU as potential sources of conflict.

While the plaintiff in Dehen requested recusal, Watson denied the request, citing the same reasons he had previously used in the Strauss litigation.

Following the assignment of six additional OSU-related cases in late 2023 and 2024, Judge Watson issued similar “maybe-conflict” orders in four of them—Sullivan v. OSU, Doe v. OSU, Smith v. OSU Wexner Medical Center, and St. John v. OSU—on October 3, 2025. Fix the Court suggests that the timing of these orders coincided with the release of their “Conflict U.” report. In Hill v. OSU, the plaintiff directly moved for Watson’s recusal. In Phieffer v. OSU, filed on October 20, 2025, Watson issued a “maybe-conflict” order on October 24.

Fix the Court expressed appreciation for Watson’s renewed consideration of potential conflicts of interest and voiced hope that he would continue to offer this option to parties in future cases involving Ohio State University.