S.C. prosecutors seek changes in how judges are selected
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A group of prosecutors is calling for six state lawmakers to be kicked off a committee that has influence over which judges serve on South Carolina’s benches.
Nine solicitors say it’s needed to restore public confidence in the state’s judicial selection process.
South Carolina is one of two states where the Legislature elects judges. But judicial candidates first appear before a screening .
Now a group of elected prosecutors say lawmakers who are also lawyers shouldn’t be allowed to serve on this .
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Nine solicitors call for this change in a letter they sent Monday to the speaker of the House and the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who’s on the screening .
Right now, a 10-member committee called the Judicial Merit Selection Commission screens judicial candidates.
The determines who’s qualified and selects up to three candidates for each seat, then the entire General Assembly picks.
Six of the commission are legislators – and they’re also typically lawyers – while the other four are appointed citizens.
The solicitors are now calling for those six lawyer-legislators to be removed immediately from the commission and replaced with lawmakers who aren’t also lawyers.
The solicitors write that barring lawyer-legislators from serving on the committee “would go a long way toward improving the judicial selection process and restoring public confidence in our judiciary.”
This is one of the strongest demands yet among the growing chorus of calls for judicial reform in South Carolina – and a newly formed ad hoc committee in the House of Representatives will study and make recommendations on this issue before the new legislative session begins in January.
In response to this letter – Rep. Micah Caskey – who chairs the commission and is also a lawyer – says he hopes these prosecutors will fully participate in the judicial selection process and that committee – adding their live testimony would be helpful.
The solicitors pointedly call out one commission member by name – House Democratic Leader Todd Rutherford.
They write that Rutherford has “been central to a number of recent scandals that have eroded public confidence in our state’s judiciary and have created an appearance of undue influence derived from the considerable power granted by his role in the JMSC.”
The scandals include his representation of convicted murder Jeroid Price, who was secretly granted an early release from prison this year – which Rutherford helped coordinate with a since-retired judge. The S.C. Supreme Court quickly reversed that, though it took a nationwide manhunt to find Price and put him back in prison.
Rutherford denies any impropriety.
“If they would like for the speaker of the House to take me off Judicial Merit Selection, they should at least show where I have done something wrong,” he said. “They cannot. If what they’re tired of is me beating them, me doing a better job in court, then they should get used to the fact that I’m simply a better lawyer they are and that’s why they’re complaining.”
In two weeks, the commission will meet to start screening judicial candidates in what’s expected to be a closely scrutinized process.
Meanwhile, any legislative changes to the judicial selection process – can’t be taken up until January, at the earliest.
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