(Published December 2‚ 2003)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - State Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal breezed through a public hearing Tuesday on her qualifications to serve 10 more years as the state's top judge.

Toal, 60 and the state's first female chief justice, answered questions on topics ranging from her car accident involving alcohol two years ago to her temperament toward lawyers and court employees.

After the hearing, she said she was pleased and that things went as expected. Toal, who sported a blonder hair color for the hearing, joked that she was reading a legal brief while getting her hair done.

She faces no opposition in her re-election bid, and questions from members of the state Judicial Merit Selection Commission were mostly routine.

The commission determines whether candidates for judgeships are qualified and nominates them to the General Assembly. The panel took no action Tuesday. Along with Toal, lawmakers also will elect a Court of Appeals judge, 14 Circuit Court judges and 22 Family Court judges in February.

Most on the committee seemed pleased with Toal's tenure as chief justice.

"I do want to commend you for the last six years, you've been exemplary," said Rep. Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg. "You've been an asset to our state."

In 2001, Toal paid a $300 fine for leaving the scene of an accident and driving too fast for conditions following a traffic accident. She has denied that drinking played a role in the wreck but acknowledged it was inappropriate behavior. Toal's car hit a parked car and no one was injured.

"A person in my position should never be in a position to cause there to be any question about their integrity," Toal said. "I have renewed my commitment to this job. ... This has been a tough issue for me, but you learn from every experience."

University of South Carolina law professor John Freeman said he wasn't on the commission last time Toal was screened, but wanted to point out there was no rumblings about Toal's temperament this time.

During her associate justice re-election hearings in 1996, court employees said Toal cursed around them or embarrassed them publicly.

"I think that was a good wake-up call for me and a good learning experience," Toal said. The chief justice said the commission could ask judges and others anonymously about her temperament now.

"I think you would find that my demeanor and approach to both staff and litigants has changed, and probably that screening had a lot to do with it," Toal said.

Toal has been chief justice since taking over the term of Ernest Finney, who retired in 2000. She became the first female justice to sit on the state's highest court when she was first elected in 1988.

Toal also called for a commission to study issues involving domestic violence and called for the General Assembly to look at sentencing patterns for poor, minority defendants.

She said she was worried about the Family Court system because there have been no new judges and the number of cases and their complexity have exploded.

"We also have not been able to rotate judges, which is a great management tool to put judges where they're needed," she said.