COLOMBIA – Despite a year of delays and an ongoing pandemic, reforming the South Carolina magistrate system remains the priority of a group of lawmakers after the Post and Courier exposed how a flawed system of oversight provided fertile ground. for incompetence and corruption on the bench.
Senator Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican, said he would urge his colleagues in the upper house in this legislative session to revisit his calls to reinforce legal qualifications for magistrates and add a layer of scrutiny to their appointments.
Another new proposal would eliminate loopholes that allowed magistrates to protect ethical offenses or to preside for years, despite expired terms.
These proposed pieces of legislation, part of more than half a dozen pre-archived bills aiming at magistrate reforms, received resounding endorsements in interviews with key members of the SC Senate Judiciary Committee, who would review any proposal before a vote in plenary.
“This is good,” said Senator Chip Campsen, a Republican from Charleston and a senior member of the committee. “I would make this a priority.”
An important leader of the state chamber, Rep. Murrell Smith, also indicated that he and his colleagues would welcome reforms that would strengthen the legal acumen of state magistrates. Smith, a Republican, is a lawyer for Sumter and the House’s chief budget writer.
For his part, Campsen said he has been eyeing changes in the state’s nomination process for years.
Although the state constitution places appointments in the hands of the governor, in practice the executive office functions as nothing more than a rubber stamp. State senators have broad authority to choose candidates of their choice, and selections are seldom questioned before being confirmed by verbal votes in the upper house.
The lawsuit amounts to virtually no scrutiny for the nearly 300 magistrates across the state who handle hundreds of thousands of criminal and civil cases each year, a joint investigation by the Post and Courier and ProPublica last year found.
Davis pointed to this report as a direct catalyst for his and other more recent reform proposals.
“Individuals are getting in touch with representatives and senators – that comes with pre-formulated bills,” said Davis. “It is an indication of public awareness.”
The newspaper’s investigation concluded that a flaw in the enforcement process removed the requirement that magistrates disclose whether they had been punished for misconduct by the state judicial body. A dozen judges with previous ethical offenses skated to their last appointment without question, the investigation concluded.
A bill by Senator Tom Young, an Aiken Republican, aims to close that gap. His proposal would require the majority of the Senate to approve the renewal of any magistrate with a previous offense. Young, also a member of the Judiciary Committee, told the Post and Courier that more detailed disclosures are essential for selecting qualified lawyers.
His bill would also eliminate the practice among senators who have held magistrates on the bench for years, despite expired terms. This allowed the judges to escape the appointment process and avoid any doubts about their service.
The Post and Courier and ProPublica found that about a quarter of South Carolina magistrates preside with this “remnant” status.
Magistrates are the state’s busiest judges. They judge cases involving petty theft, drunk driving, domestic violence, assaults and disorderly conduct. They also issue arrest warrants, set bail, preside over trials and conduct preliminary hearings to assess whether there is sufficient probable cause to support criminal charges such as murder, rape and theft.
Still, the newspaper’s investigation found that about three-quarters of the state’s magistrates are not lawyers and could not represent someone in court – although they preside over them.
Davis emphasized that the state must strengthen its legal qualifications for all magistrates. Your proposal would increase mandatory legal training from your current minimum of 57 and a half hours.
In comparison, South Carolina is more rigid with its barbers: its training school requires 1,500 hours.
Follow Joseph Cranney on Twitter @joey_cranney.