COLUMBIA - South Carolina lawmakers, and Gov. Mark Sanford, have pledged to add more minorities and women to the judiciary. But they made little progress last week when the General Assembly, meeting in joint session, appointed 17 judges, adding only one woman and no black people.
"How do you legislate a mentality?" asked Rep. Leon Howard, D-Columbia. "You can't. We believe that a man changed against his will is still an unchanged mind."
In 2000, according to the U.S. Census, 29.5 percent of South Carolinians were black. But, currently, less than 10 percent of South Carolina judges are black.
In the only judicial race that was truly contested by Wednesday afternoon, Carmen Tevis Mullen beat Diane DeWitt and Thomas Taylor to be named a judge in the 14th Circuit Court District, which includes Beaufort County. She will replace Gregory Jackson.
"I think there is a trend toward putting more women on the bench to show the diversity of South Carolina, and I do think it had a factor in this (judicial) race," she said.
"I think women have a unique perspective in the way they view things," she said. "I think they are naturally fair negotiators. ... And, certainly, (being) a good listener is important, and I think oftentimes women tend to be good listeners."
Still, her appointment means there are only five women judges in the South Carolina circuit court system out of 46.
Those fighting for more diversity say, quite simply, the makeup of the judiciary should reflect the makeup of South Carolina.
"People want to have someone that they can identify with," said Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken. "The other thing is that it is just the right thing to do, in a mixed society; it's just the right thing to do, you ought to have some kind of mixture."
Judges have a lot of discretion, and must know cultural differences, he said.
MR. HOWARD HAS PROPOSED legislation that he hopes will increase women's and minorities' access to the bench. Currently, a judicial selection committee considers the qualifications of candidates and nominates up to three. The General Assembly then chooses whom to appoint.
Under Mr. Howard's bill, the committee would simply weed out anyone unqualified for the position and lawmakers would consider all other candidates.
"At least it's a step in the right direction for fairness, where if a person applies and they are really qualified, they get an opportunity for the General Assembly to vote on them," Mr. Howard said.
The lack of black judges does not stem from a lack of qualified, black lawyers, he said.
"(Several) have said to me that they would not subject themselves to such disgrace and to be humiliated, to come all this way, stand around and go through this process, (when) history has proven that this body will not elect African-Americans regardless of how qualified they are," Mr. Howard said.
The House approved his bill last year, but the Senate has yet to consider the legislation since it was assigned to the judiciary committee March 15, 2005.
At the end of his State of the State address in January, Mr. Sanford urged the Legislature to push for more judicial diversity.
"Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception in parts of our state that at times there are different standards of justice - or, at other times, feelings that our government is not committed to the principle of diversity," he said.
"I don't believe either of these perceptions true, but would ask the General Assembly to make real efforts this year to increase the number of African-Americans appointed to the bench so that we extinguish this perception in our state," he said.
Last week, lawmakers didn't move much toward, or away from, where they were. Mr. Howard said there are a number of factors influencing a lawmaker's vote.
Some just will never vote for a black person, he said. Others simply prefer someone they know, a friend they grew up with.
"But at the end of the day, the net result is we're not increasing diversity," he said.
Reach Kirsten Singleton at (803) 414-6611 or kirsten.singleton@morris.com.
