A black state lawmaker who has been outspoken about the lack of diversity in state courts hopes his appointment to a judicial screening commission will improve chances for minority candidates.

The appointment of Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, to the S.C. Judicial Merit Selection Commission brings the number of blacks on the 10-member commission to three. The other two black members are Rep. Fletcher Smith, D-Greenville, and Amy McLester of Camden.

Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, named Ford and Sen. Ray Cleary, R-Georgetown, to the commission this week. They replace McConnell and Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Aiken, who had served on the commission since its inception in 1997.

“I think the main reason (McConnell) asked me to sit on (the commission) is to try to diversify the bench,” Ford said Thursday. “A lot of African-American lawyers and judges don’t feel they have a chance.”

Only one black candidate — an unopposed incumbent — applied for any of the 18 open judicial seats to be filled by the Legislature early next year.

The commission screens judicial candidates for family, circuit, master-in-equity, administrative law, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court seats.

The Legislature elects judges from the candidates nominated by the commission. The commission can nominate up to three candidates for an opening.

In a prepared statement this week, McConnell said he and Moore “believe that it is now time for us to step aside and provide an opportunity for other people to serve.”

Efforts to reach McConnell and Moore were unsuccessful Thursday.

As the Senate President Pro Tempore and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, McConnell appoints five members to the commission. The House Speaker appoints the other five.

Six of the 10 members must be legislators.

Since 1997, McConnell has served as commission chairman in alternating years.

Ford has decried the lack of diversity in state courts and called for public election of judges.

“I will still be fighting hard for the public election of judges,” he said. “That’s the only way to get a foolproof system.”

Ford’s views are not widely shared. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal contends that public elections will invite corruption.

But Toal — the state’s first female chief justice — acknowledges the lack of diversity in state courtrooms.

Women make up about 51 percent of the state’s population, and blacks make up about 30 percent of the population. However, only 17 percent of the state’s judges are women, and only 6 percent are black, state court records show.

Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, has pushed for legislation that would allow more than three people to be nominated for a judicial seat. Howard, chairman-elect of the Legislative Black Caucus, said Thursday that Ford’s appointment “may encourage more African-Americans to apply to be judges.”

A study by The State last year found that since 1998, two-thirds of black candidates in contested judicial races were rejected by the screening commission.

Ford said he doesn’t believe in quotas for judicial nominations. However, if commission members “care about diversity, surely one of those three (nominated) candidates should be African-American, if everything else is equal.”

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