5 judges seek seat on S.C. Supreme Court

Three state Appeals Court and two other judges have filed to fill what is left of the term of a South Carolina Supreme Court seat being vacated in January by Chief Justice elect-Costa Pleicones, it was announced Monday.

Columbia’s Ralph King “Tripp” Anderson III, son of a onetime state Appeals Court judge, is joined by sitting Court of Appeals members John C. Few, Aphrodite Konduros and H. Bruce Williams in filing for the Supreme Court seat, according to the Judicial Merit Selection Commission.

Few and Konduros are from Greenville. Anderson, of Columbia, is the chief judge of the state’s Administrative Law Court. Also seeking Pleicones’ seat is Circuit Court Judge D. Craig Brown of Florence.

Meanwhile, the race for an at-large Circuit Court judgeship features an unusually large 15 contestants, including several well-known names: former Circuit Court judge and ex-director of the State Law Enforcement Division, Reggie Lloyd; former chief federal prosecutor Rene Josey of Florence; ex-Richland and Horry county public defender Jeff Bloom; and the son of former Treasurer Grady Patterson, Grady L. “Leck” Patterson III. The seat is being vacated by retiring Judge James Barber of Columbia.

Public judicial screening hearings for the judgeships are scheduled for the weeks of Nov. 16 and Nov. 30. The deadline for the public to file complaints against the candidates is Nov. 2. Legislators make the final decisions on the nearly 50 judgeships that are to be reviewed.

Whoever succeeds Pleicones as associate justice will serve the six months left on the term to which he was re-elected in 2006. Pleicones’ 10-year term, technically Seat 2 on the top court, expires July 31, 2016.

Pleicones was elected unanimously in May by the Legislature to become chief justice. But his term at the helm of the Supreme Court, which begins Jan. 1, will be only a year – one of the shortest terms in modern times. South Carolina has a mandatory retirement age of 72 for all but a handful of judges, none of whom sit on the Supreme Court.

Pleicones’ term at the helm of the court was cut short when current Chief Justice Jean Toal broke with tradition and fought to be re-elected in 2014. That allowed Toal to serve until the end of this year, as she turned 72 this month. In the past, the most senior associate justice had assumed the chief justice’s seat as the sitting chief approached the year in which he or she turns 72. Pleicones has been on the court since 2000; Toal since 1988.

The Toal-Pleicones race turned bruising because he challenged Toal’s re-election, eventually losing to her 95-74 after 11 lawmakers switched their votes. Questions have lingered over whispers of vote swapping, especially involving the Legislative Black Caucus, which voted en mass for Toal. However, no hard evidence has been made public.

Other judgeships of local interest include:

▪  The state Appeals Court seat held by James Lockemy, whose term expires June 30, 2016. As with the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court hears cases in Columbia. No one filed to challenge Lockemy.

▪  Two Family Court judgeships in Richland and Kershaw counties will remain unchanged as no one filed to oppose Judges Dorothy Mobley Jones and Gwendlyne Young Jones. Both of their terms end June 30.

▪  A single Family Court judgeship in the judicial circuit that includes Lexington, Edgefield, Saluda and McCormick counties, which expires June 30. The seat is held by William Gregory Seigler of McCormick. No one filed to challenge Seigler.

Among the nearly 50 seats to be filled by legislators, the position that attracted the largest interest is retiring Judge Barber’s at-large Circuit Court seat. He leaves the bench this year because of the 72-year-old requirement. But his term ends June 30, 2021.

The contenders for that post also include: Jerome P. Askins III of Johnsonville; Joseph M. Epting Jr. of Irmo; Joey Randell Floyd of Columbia; William Patrick Frick of Winnsboro; Jason Scott Luck of Charleston; William Vickery Meetze of Marion; Jocelyn Newman of Columbia; Bentley Douglas Price of Charleston; Robert L. Reibold of Columbia; Walter W. Thompson Sr. of Rock Hill; and William Bertram von Herrmann of Conway.

Five retired judges are facing required four-year reviews so they can remain eligible to be called upon by the chief justice as needed. They include former Supreme Court Justice James E. Moore of Greenwood, former Circuit Court judges Charles Victor Pyle, Jr. of Greenville, Levy S. Alford of York and Brooks P. Goldsmith of Edisto Island as well as Family Court Judge Robert E. Guess of Union.

This story was originally published August 17, 2015 at 3:27 PM with the headline "5 judges seek seat on S.C. Supreme Court."