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COLOMBIA, SC – Governor Henry McMaster is calling for radical changes in the qualifications and oversight of South Carolina magistrates after a joint investigation by the Post and Courier and ProPublica exposed the abuse and incompetence among state frontline judges.
The governor pointed to this report in his annual state of the state address on Wednesday, calling for what he described as necessary reforms to prevent further corruption and poor law enforcement by more than 300 state magistrates.
According to his plan, every magistrate should be an attorney with a clean record. As news organizations reported in 2019, the vast majority of these judges today have never practiced law. McMaster also asked lawmakers to overhaul their candidate selection and approval process, which now needs little more than the support of local politicians to try hundreds of thousands of civil and criminal cases each year.
“The first step in reform is transparency and accountability,” said McMaster. His recommendations, which could face an uphill battle in the state, represent the most significant proposal so far for what its advocates said were long-needed changes to an outdated justice system, which has remained largely untouched for more than a century.
A 2019 series from The Post and Courier and ProPublica exposed how a flawed system of selection and oversight provided fertile ground for misconduct in court. Handpicked by politicians, some magistrates took bribes, stole money, thwarted trials, stomped on constitutional protections and mismanaged even the most basic elements of criminal proceedings.
In addition, about three-quarters of the state’s magistrates never practiced law, the investigation concluded. Its ranks include construction workers, insurance agents and pharmacists. Before taking over the bench, they undergo less hours of training than Palmetto State requires of its barbers and hairdressers.
In the wake of the Post and Courier and ProPublica reports, some legislators moved quickly to propose a set of reforms. Senator Tom Davis, a Republican from Beaufort, is leading an effort that would force magistrates to undergo more formal legal training and restrict the scrutiny of the legislature around their nominations. On Wednesday, the governor insisted that lawmakers should take the matter a step further by placing even stricter requirements on the qualifications and appointments of magistrates.
Still, in interviews, several top lawmakers expressed doubts about the approval of ambitious reforms soon, with this year’s legislative session dominated by the recovery of the state from an economy destroyed by a pandemic.
And not everyone is convinced that South Carolina has widespread problems among its magistrates. Proponents of the current system claim that magistrates play an essential role in the state justice system – cleaning up minor case portfolios so that state district judges have time to deal with major crimes and civil cases. They preside over cases involving petty theft, drunk driving, domestic violence, assaults and disorderly conduct. They also issue arrest warrants, set bail and conduct preliminary hearings to assess whether there is sufficient probable cause to support criminal charges such as murder, rape and theft. Defenders argue that non-legal magistrates have proved capable of exercising these functions.
Judge Danny Singleton, president of the state association of magistrates and other local judges, did not return a message asking for comment on Thursday.
Senator Luke Rankin chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would consider any proposal before a plenary vote. He said he saw no set of “examples that show me that there is a pattern of abuse”.
Rankin said no senator had discussed the subject of the magistrate’s reform with him since The Post and Courier and ProPublica published their investigation. When asked, Rankin said he had not read the series and asked a reporter to send it to him.
“It can be much more problematic than I am aware of,” said Rankin, a Republican.
Some of Rankin’s colleagues have already proposed reforms. That includes Davis and Republican Senator Tom Young, who proposed legislation to close a loophole that allowed magistrates to hide previous ethical offenses while running for new terms.
A dozen full-fledged judges who were punished for misconduct by the state’s judicial review body skated on their last appointment, without questions, the Post and Courier and ProPublica discovered.
McMaster, a former state attorney general, said nothing about the magistrate’s reform. Presented with the findings of the 2019 news organizations investigation, McMaster declined to be interviewed.
But he recognized the governor’s limited role in his choices. 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, and selections are seldom questioned outside of local delegations.
McMaster, during Wednesday’s comments, called for a more scrutinized process that would require candidates to be selected at legislative hearings. This would put magistrates’ appointments in line with the state’s district judges, who handle all criminal cases and are required to be experienced lawyers.
Senator Shane Massey, a majority leader in the Republican state Senate, said he welcomed the governor’s call for reforms. But he and others warned that the proposals raise significant questions about how they would be implemented.
On the one hand, the state would likely need to raise magistrates’ salaries to attract lawyers who would otherwise have to swallow a drastic cut in pay to fill the position.
And some rural counties have very few lawyers to fill these positions. Tiny McCormick County, part of the Massey district, has only three licensed lawyers and two magistrate chairs.
“Requiring lawyers – it works really well in Charleston,” said Massey. “It doesn’t work very well at McCormick.”
Through a spokesman, McMaster on Thursday asked lawmakers to study the issue instead of using the challenges “as an excuse for not doing what needs to be done”.
“It is perfectly reasonable for Southern Carolians to expect greater responsibility and transparency in the selection of judges who must appear before,” said spokesman Brian Symmes.
Representative Murrell Smith, a Republican and chief budget writer in the state House of Representatives, said lawmakers should follow the governor’s lead.
“Nobody is really willing to take over and improve the magistrate system,” said Smith. “Now, the governor made that call.”
Smith, also a lawyer, co-sponsored legislation in 2018 that would require magistrates to have legal licenses only in counties with a population over 75,000, which would cover 18 of the state’s 46 counties.
The bill did not reach the plenary of the Chamber.