Judicial Elections Up in the Air In South Carolina
Fair Courts E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Robert Behre
Source: The Post and Courier
Date: 1/22/2010
The South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission plans to “suspend future screenings of judge candidates” until the resolution of a lawsuit filed by a state judge challenging the legality of the state’s judicial selection system. The lawsuit claims that South Carolina voters adopted a 1996 constitutional amendment establishing the merit commission in order to provide a check on the power of the legislature, which is charged with electing judges in South Carolina – and that the legislature violated this intent when it passed a law requiring a majority of commissioners to be sitting legislators. (South Carolina is one of only two states – with Virginia – in which the legislature selects judges.) The state Supreme Court will now decide whether it or a lower court will hear the lawsuit.