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Governor, chief justice call for more diversity on the bench

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Gov. Mark Sanford and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal urged lawmakers to consider the race and gender of judicial candidates to increase diversity on the bench.

"We urge you to make the principle of diversity an important consideration in any judicial elections that come before you this year and in the future," read the letter sent Tuesday to all House and Senate members.

Blacks make up 29.5 percent of the state's population, but just 6.1 percent of its trial judges. Women account for 51.4 percent of the population but 17.3 percent of trial judges, according to the letter.

Sanford and Toal asked lawmakers to support a bill that would create three more circuit court judges and three additional family court judges. They would create an opportunity for more diversity and help the state's "severely overworked" court system.

"Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception in some parts of our state that there are different standards of justice depending on the gender or race of the litigant, or that our government is not committed to the principle of diversity in judicial elections," the letter read.

The governor and chief justice said they don't believe those perceptions, but said lawmakers should consider them when casting their votes.

Perception is reality and many people appearing in court "have the perception that they're not getting a fair shot," said Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville.

Malloy appreciated the governor and chief justice bringing attention to the issue, but it's not something that can be fixed simply by creating more seats.

"This is something we need to be conscious about all the time," said Malloy, president of the state Trial Lawyers Association.

House Majority Leader Jim Merrill said he doesn't care if judicial candidates are "black, green or blue, as long as they're qualified."

"I try and look at reports handed out and their qualifications and past rulings. Gender and race, I don't think, are nearly as important as their qualifications to be a judge, said Merrill, R-Daniel Island.

Two judicial seats are currently open, including the circuit court seat vacated by Reginald Lloyd, who was sworn in last month as the state's U.S. attorney. He became the first black to serve permanently in that position since Reconstruction.

The Legislature elected 17 judges last month. Of those, the only minority selected was an incumbent. No minority applied for the open seats. Two of the four females who applied were elected, said Jane Shuler, chief counsel for the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, which screens candidates and nominates three per seat for the General Assembly to choose from.

A reform proposal that passed the House last year, and is pending in the Senate, would require the commission send all qualified candidates forward for election.

Last year, the South Carolina Bar Association adopted a resolution supporting the idea that the state needs more women and minorities on the bench. Of the 112 judges on the state Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Court, and Family Court, six are minorities, according to the association.

Sen. Robert Ford said judges should be elected by the public, not the Legislature. As long as House and Senate members choose the judges, it doesn't matter how many candidates run, he said.

"There's not but one way to elect more black judges," said Ford, D-Charleston, who doubted Sanford's sincerity and accused him of "grandstanding for the next election."

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor and chief justice have a long-standing record of support for increasing diversity on the bench.

Sanford called for more diversity on the bench in his State of the State address in January, and Toal talked about it in her State of the Judiciary address earlier this month.