COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina Democrat is joining calls to give the governor more power and say over the election of state judges.
Freshman state Rep. Heather Bauer, D-Richland, has filed a bill that would remove current lawmakers from a powerful committee that now vets candidates for state judges. Instead, Bauer’s proposal would give Gov. Henry McMaster and future governors more say in the judicial process, while still allowing the 170-member General Assembly to give final approval.
Under Bauer’s proposal, the governor would get to appoint six members to the current 10-member screening commission, called the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, that vets candidates to run for judicial posts. At least one of the governor’s six appointments would be a candidate recommended by the S.C. Bar Association, whose members include all state lawyers, Bauer’s bill says.
No sitting lawmakers could be on the screening commission, the bill says.
Currently, six of the 10 members of the screening commission are lawmakers, and the other four members are of the general public and picked by leaders in the House and Senate.
The current system gives too much power to legislators, many of whom are lawyers and sometimes practice in front of the judges they elect, she said.
“They not only get to pick who runs, but they get to vote (for judge candidates) on the floor,” she said. “That’s just too much power for too few people.”
South Carolina is one of only two states where the Legislature alone exercises overall power in how judges are selected.
Other methods are popular partisan or nonpartisan elections, gubernatorial appointment or various combinations of elections and input from the legislature and a state’s governor.
Under Bauer’s bill, the House speaker and the Senate president would be allowed to appoint two members each to the screening commission. The commission would then forward the names of all candidates it deems qualified for a judge’s post to the General Assembly for a vote, Bauer’s bill says.
Currently, the commission only forwards a maximum of three candidates.
The screening commission vets not only the state’s 46 trial judges, but also the approximately 60 family court judges, the five S.C. Supreme Court justices and the nine members of the S.C. Court of Appeals.
The removal of all lawmakers from the screening commission would sharply dilute the power the Legislature has in how judges are selected.
“I ran for (Columbia) city council two years ago, and I had, like, eight candidates running,” said Bauer, who is not a lawyer. “So why not let everyone run if they are qualified.”
Bauer said she considers her bill “a middle ground” that allows the Legislature, the governor and the S.C. Bar to play a role in selecting judges.
Her interest in the topic was sparked in January when McMaster mentioned in his State of the State address that he wanted a more “accountable and transparent” way to choose judges, she said. Specifically, McMaster said he would like to see the governor appoint judges with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Bauer said she was heartened by a March 27 bipartisan press conference led by Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, and 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, a Democrat. More than 25 sheriffs and solicitors from around the state showed up to endorse efforts to let the governor get involved in selecting judges.
“We can do better than this,” Bauer said.
Bauer’s bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee, and is co-sponsored by state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg. Given the timing, however, Bauer’s bill is unlikely to move forward this year because of the Legislature’s April 10 “crossover” deadline.
Several other bills aimed at changing the way the state chooses judges are also percolating in the Legislature. None have so far received a hearing.
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