Can people who enter a courtroom in South Carolina expect to receive justice based on the law and the circumstances, without bias or favoritism? In some circumstances, the client who is represented by an attorney who is also a member of the South Carolina House or Senate may have a decisive advantage. That is the way the system is designed to work in this state. Then why doesn’t it get fixed?
Lawyers are afraid to complain, because they have to represent clients in these courts and most citizens don’t know how the “good old boy” system works, therefore they don’t know there is a problem.
The method of selecting Judges in South Carolina needs to be changed if we are going to say with a straight face that we have a justice system. South Carolina has a legal system, however, many citizens and attorneys privately admit that the system does not always administer justice.
In the simplest terms, in this state, lawyers in the legislature appoint judges and represent clients before the judges they appoint. If lawmakers are accused of a crime, judges they appoint decide their fate. But that is only part of the problem. There is a layer of people who are not elected that choose the attorneys who will be even considered for appointment as judges.
Rank and file members of the legislature only get to vote on judge candidates that this unelected group chooses. A group of people, half of which are appointed by the House Speaker screen all candidates and approve a short list of candidates that the lawmakers will be allowed to vote for or against. It has been reported that one of the members of this powerful group is the House Speaker’s brother. That makes for a real cozy situation. Could it be a conflict of interest?
During the 2012 primary season, senior lawmakers with serious opposition found a way to stay in office. They just had their opponents removed from the ballot. It was collusion between lawmakers and judges that created a system that removed more than 300 candidates from primary ballots during the 2012 primary. It was probably the most extensive election scam in the history of South Carolina and maybe the nation. It saved the seats of all but one of the culprit incumbents. It was legal because the Supreme Court that was involved in concocting the scheme said it was.
It does not have to be this way. The system can be changed, but it will not be changed with the same people in charge in Columbia. It will take a grass roots effort, first to educate voters and then to elect people to the legislature committed to creating a real “justice” system.
Some states elect judges by popular vote. That system is not perfect, but it is better than what South Carolina currently has. If South Carolina voters picked the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, would they have reelected a woman with multiple drunk-driving charges? If South Carolina voters could elect their Magistrates (Summary Court Judges), would elderly women who live alone be handcuffed and carted off to jail for having too tall weeds in their flower garden?
Other systems of selecting judges have been discussed but none seriously considered by the legislature. If we want justice to prevail, we will have to fight for it.
It is virtually impossible to nominate conservative candidates to represent the Republican Party in so-called Republican primaries because of South Carolina’s “open primary” law that protects incumbents and allows Democrats to compete with Republicans in nominating Republican candidates.
We complain about lawlessness and injustice in Washington, D. C., where we have little chance to make immediate change. And we fail to recognize and change a system that promotes corruption and injustice in our own state.
Evil prevails when good men do nothing!