S.C. lawmakers continue to discuss how judges are picked
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The average South Carolinian is more likely to come before a county magistrate judge than any other type of judge.
But some state leaders, including the governor, say too many candidates for these critical positions aren’t fully vetted – and that it’s led to headaches in the judicial system.
In recent years, magistrates’ hiring and firing has been totally controlled by their local senators.
A new proposal in the House of Representatives would change that.
“The governor had kind of indicated to the Senate that he wanted the magistrates to start being screened of some type, so we set up the screening,” said House Speaker Pro Tem Tommy Pope, R-York.
These judges’ duties include presiding over lower-level criminal trials, setting bonds and authorizing warrants in South Carolina.
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The existing law calls for the governor to appoint magistrates with senators’ recommendations – though the governor’s role has largely been silent in recent years – deferring to local senators’ picks.
But last fall, Gov. Henry McMaster sent a letter requiring magistrate nominees to go through a more rigorous application process.
“We’re in the early stages of that experiment, but there’s no question that there’s a place for a more detailed analysis of magistrates’ qualifications,” said Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry.
As part of a much larger judicial reform proposal, this House bill would build upon that by establishing a nine-member magistrate review committee.
Its would be appointed by both the Senate and the governor – and they would screen nominees and hold public hearings, as is done for other state judges – then report qualified candidates to the Senate and governor.
The new proposal would also give magistrates greater civil and criminal jurisdiction than they currently have.
“Which just strengthens the argument that they need to go through the same or similar type of review process if they’re going to be given increased jurisdiction,” said Rep. Travis Moore, R-Spartanburg.
Again, senators have total control over magistrate selection right now – and the other judicial reform bill at the State House, the one that *senators wrote and just ed -- did not propose any changes to that situation.
But the lead sponsor of the Senate bill says that doesn’t mean they’re not interested.
“I don’t know that the magistrate appointment process is going to change. But on the qualifications process, I think a majority of the body would be interested in — they want to get it right. They want to hire good people, and they’ve had enough bad experiences — or headaches may be a better way to say it — with their magistrates that they feel like we can do better,” Hembree said.
That House proposal is just getting started in the legislative process, and currently sits in House subcommittee.
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