COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina General Assembly has elected John Kittredge as the next State Supreme Court Chief Justice.
Kittredge succeeds Don Beatty, who is retiring this summer due to reaching the mandatory retirement age of 72. Once the transition occurs, South Carolina will be the only state with an all-white, all-male Supreme Court.
Originally scheduled for February 7th, the vote was delayed by a bipartisan group of senators until a reform bill reached the floor.
Kittredge, with 33 years of service as a state court judge and elected to the Supreme Court in 2008, will take over from Beatty, the high court's only Black justice and the second Black justice to sit on the Supreme Court.
“[Beatty] is someone we can all be proud of and wish him all the best as he moves on and we are all equally excited that Chief Justice Elect Kittredge will steer us in the next era of our judicial history,” said State Rep. Micah Caskey (R-Lexington).
His election comes amid increased scrutiny as South Carolina's Supreme Court is the only one in the nation without a single female justice.
“I personally would like to see a court that has the diversity that South Carolina has," said Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-Richland County). "That suggests that we resemble South Carolina. our bench has a long way to go with that representation."
The Senate is currently debating a bill that would remove lawyer-legislators from the Judicial Merit Selection Committee (JMSC) and allow more than three candidates to be found qualified. It would also prevent the family of any JMSC member from seeking election. No sitting member of the General Assembly would be permitted to run for judge until at least two years after leaving office under the proposal.
State Senator Dick Harpootlian was one of the senators who delayed the judicial elections.
“The appearance of unfair conduct undermines the credibility of the court system, undermines the credibility of the judiciary and we ought to be bolstering that not undermining it,” said Harpootlian. “This legislation would eliminate many of the things people have concerns about in terms of his fairness.”
Rutherford, who sits on the JMSC, criticized the proposal.
“What they’re trying to do is take something that they think is wrong even though they’ve never attended a meeting of JMSC, never been in the room, don’t know anything about it, but they’ve made me out to be the boogeyman,” said Rutherford, who himself is a lawyer. “What we’re here to do is the work of the people. We’re here to elect good judges and We’ve elected good judges.”
Caskey chairs the JMSC and is also a lawyer.
“There are a number of proposals out there and like any piece of legislation, happy to work through it," Caskey said. "I’m fortunate enough to have this seat today, if I don't tomorrow that’s great too. And we’ll move on as long as it’s What’s best for the state of South Carolina."
Harpootlian is confident that the Senate will pass some version of judicial reform next week.
All remaining vacant state judgeships will be decided on April 17th. Rutherford noted that the JMSC will begin screening candidates to fill Kittredge’s vacancy in the spring.