Óscar Ornelas was also a Magistrate (associate justice) of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of the State of Chihuahua, Director of the Faculty of Law and Rector of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua (UACh). He also founded "El Colegio de Bachilleres" at national level, the first campus its name: Oscar Ornelas, in his honor.
In 1980, he was elected to be the Governor of Chihuahua. In 1985, a conflict in the election for the Rector of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua degenerated in a political confrontation that occurred in which led to his downfall as governor.