S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal fielded friendly questions Tuesday from a screening committee that is expected to nominate her again as the state’s top judge.

The quick, amicable hearing before the state Judicial Merit Selection Commission stood in stark contrast to her contentious 1996 re-election bid, in which several court employees accused the then-associate justice of being too harsh with them.

The 60-year-old Toal — the state’s first female chief justice — faced no criticism in Tuesday’s hearing. Commission member John Freeman, a USC law professor, pointed out there was not a “single word from anybody this time around about her temperament.”

Freeman, however, asked Toal what lessons she had learned from a 2001 traffic accident, in which she sideswiped a parked car near her Columbia home. Toal admitted then she had been drinking beforehand but denied she was drunk; she was issued two traffic tickets but was not arrested.

“I have learned how important it is in my ability to be a good person, a good Catholic, a good parent and a good leader of this court — to have my conduct be above reproach,” Toal told the commission.

Before the General Assembly can vote to re-elect her, the 10-member commission, made up mostly of state lawmakers, must first qualify Toal. An election is tentatively set for Feb. 4.

State Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, who is not a commission member but attended the hearing, said afterward he does not expect any problems with her election. Toal, who joined the high court in 1988 and became chief justice in 2000, is unopposed in her bid for her first, full 10-year term as chief justice.

“She’s always been an exemplary individual, and I’ve never known anything that I could imagine that would prevent her from doing the good job she’s already done,” Knotts said.

Toal spent most of the hearing elaborating on a written report she had submitted to the commission, in which she outlined her goals and priorities for the state’s courts. She called, for example, for the creation of a “blue ribbon commission” to study domestic violence and sentencing patterns for low-income minorities.

“I sure have got a lot of things I want to do that remain to be done,” Toal said after the hearing.

But she stopped short of saying she would stay in her position for a full 10-year term.

“Ask me in five years,” she said with a smile.

Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484 or rbrundrett@thestate.com.