Reform the Judiciary

South Carolina is one of only two states in the country where our judges are appointed by the legislature. As you may know, this has led to a host of corruption issues in our state and a serious lack of accountability.

In 2019 an investigative project by ProPublica and The Post and Courier showed that: “Over the past two decades, more than 1,000 ethics complaints have been lodged against South Carolina Judges who handle the state’s major cases in circuit court. Beyond mere courtroom disputes, the complaints contain serious concerns about abuse of office, including allegations of influence peddling or judges mishandling conflicts of interest.” And yet zero judges were ever punished or held accountable as a result of these complaints.

Our judges are unelected and unaccountable, and the result is a system of injustice instead of a justice system. I will sponsor and support judicial reform legislation so that South Carolina’s judges are elected by the people and are accountable to the people via recall.