In a historic move, the state judicial screening commission nominated three black candidates Tuesday for a circuit court seat.

This assures that a black candidate will be elected to the at-large seat formerly held by Reggie Lloyd, who in February became the state’s first permanent black U.S. attorney.

Five of the six candidates for the seat were black — the largest number of black candidates for a circuit court seat since a new screening system was adopted in 1997.

According to Jane Shuler, the chief lawyer for the 10-member Judicial Merit Selection Commission, the candidates are:

• J. Michelle Childs, a state Workers’ Compensation commissioner since 2002

• John Geathers, an Administrative Law Court judge since 1994

• William Witherspoon, an assistant U.S. attorney since 2000

The winner of a May 24 election in the state Legislature will fill the remainder of Lloyd’s six-year term, which expires June 30, 2009.

It will be the first time since Lloyd’s 2003 election that lawmakers will have chosen a black candidate for a contested circuit court seat.

“It’s not about getting black judges. It’s about getting good judges,” said state Rep. David Mack, D-Charleston, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. “In some cases, we’ve had African-American candidates who tried more cases, were more experienced and rated higher, and still were not selected.”

About 6 percent of the state’s lawyers and 6 percent of its trial and appellate judges are black, while the state’s black population is about 30 percent. Only lawyers can fill family, circuit and appellate court seats.

I.S. Leevy Johnson, a longtime Columbia attorney and former state lawmaker, said Tuesday’s nominations show there are enough qualified black lawyers for judgeships.

“What I will be interested to see in the future is when there’s a vacancy created by a white judge’s resignation, will they again nominate three African-American candidates?” he said.

The three candidates have “excellent” judicial temperaments, according to a report by the S.C. Bar’s 21-member Judicial Qualifications Committee, which assists the state screening commission.

The other three candidates were found qualified but were not nominated by the screening commission. They were Greenville assistant city attorney Debra Gammons, 16th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Daniel Hall and Richland County Master-In-Equity Joseph Strickland, Shuler said.

Hall was the only white candidate.

Shuler said the nominations won’t become official until the commission issues its final written report May 9.

Besides Lloyd’s former circuit seat, lawmakers also will fill an Administrative Law Court seat formerly held by Ray Stevens, who became head of the state Department of Revenue in January. There were two black candidates among the five in that race.

The commission Tuesday nominated Shirley Robinson, who is black, and Deborah Durden and Paige Gossett, who are white, Shuler said. The two other candidates who were qualified but not nominated were Lisa Glover, who is black, and Christopher Holmes, who is white.

By law, the Judicial Merit Selection Commission can nominate no more than three candidates for any seat. Lawmakers can choose only from among the nominees.

Since 1997, the only time more black candidates ran for any judicial seat was in 1999 when six sought an Administrative Law Court seat. In that race, only one black candidate was nominated. Carolyn Matthews, one of six white candidates, eventually won the seat.

Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484.