South Carolina § 2-19-25 - Solicitation of Bar assessment.

§ 2-19-25. Solicitation of Bar assessment.

(A) The South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission is authorized to investigate and obtain information relative to any candidate for an Administrative Law Court judgeship or a family court, circuit court, court of appeals, or Supreme Court judgeship from any state agency or other group including, but not limited to, court administration and any law enforcement agency, to the extent permitted by law. And, as part of the investigation, candidates for election to judicial office or reelection to judicial office must disclose any sanctions, including private reprimands, to the commission.

(B) The chairman of the commission shall notify the President of the South Carolina Bar of the judgeships to be filled and of the candidates for those judgeships no later than four weeks before the scheduled date for the public hearing. The chairman of the commission shall also request the South Carolina Bar to offer the commission an assessment of each candidate's qualifications for the judgeship sought, and the date by which the assessment must be returned to the commission. This assessment must specify the bar's finding as to whether each candidate is qualified or unqualified for the judgeship sought and the reasons for that finding. The commission may receive the bar's assessment in that form and at that time it desires but shall attach the assessments to its findings of fact in such form as the commission considers appropriate. Failure of the bar to return the assessment by the date requested is not a ground for delaying the applicable hearings or election.

(C) The commission shall forward the names of justices and judges who are at the midpoint in their terms to the committee in order for the committee to conduct midterm reviews utilizing the electronic ballot box survey polling or other forms of electronic surveys as it deems appropriate. The results of the midterm reviews must be forwarded to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Midterm reviews also must be provided to the commission at the next public screening of each judicial candidate.

HISTORY: 1996 Act No. 391, Part I, SECTION 1; 2024 Act No. 219 (S.1046), SECTION 1, eff July 1, 2025.

Effect of Amendment

2024 Act No. 219, SECTION 1, rewrote the section.