Beatty wins S.C. Supreme Court chief justice post
The S.C. General Assembly on Wednesday unanimously elected Donald Beatty to be chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
Beatty, 64, the five-person high court’s senior associate justice, was the only person running for the Supreme Court’s top job, which pays $151,317.
After his election, which was accompanied by cheers and a standing ovation, Beatty told reporters that he had never planned on being on the Supreme Court, or even being a judge.
“I thought I’d only practice law for five years, then go on to do something else,” said Beatty, the second African-American chief justice since Reconstruction in the 19th century.
“I’ve been doing this now for over 20 years, and I love it. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
That the mostly Republican General Assembly elected Beatty, who was a Democrat when he served in the S.C. House in the early 1990s, is historic and shows that South Carolina’s way of electing judges – by the 170-member Legislature – works just fine, said former Chief Justice Jean Toal.
“Justice Beatty is not a member of the majority party here, but he was judged on his merits, and that’s the way we South Carolinians work,” Toal said. “The only thing that plays a part is their qualifications.”
Beatty will replace current Chief Justice Costa Pleicones, who retires Dec. 31. Justices must retire in the year they turn 72. Pleicones turned 72 in February; Toal turned 72 the year before.
Beatty will assume the post Jan. 1, and his term – the unexpired portion of a 10-year term Pleicones is serving – runs for seven years.
In 1995, lawmakers elected Beatty a circuit judge. He became an associate justice in 2007.
Earlier this spring, during a hearing before the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, no one mentioned Beatty’s race. South Carolina’s first African-American chief justice since Reconstruction was Ernest Finney, who served before Toal, from 1994 to 2000, when he retired.
Asked in the hearing about what unique life experiences he would bring to bring to the chief justice post, Beatty cited the several years he spent in the U.S. Army and his five years as a S.C. House member. No other sitting justice has legislative experience or active military duty experience.
Beatty also has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be a federal district court judge. However, Republicans in the U.S. Senate have slowed most of Obama’s judicial nominations, throwing the selection process into limbo. With Obama in his final seven months of office, it is uncertain at best whether the Senate will vote to approve Beatty.
“We’re kind of in a wait-and-see mode,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor who studies the federal judicial selection process. Tobias said Beatty can continue allowing his nomination to be in play and, if he does eventually get confirmed by the Senate, can make a choice at that time whether to be a federal judge or continue as chief justice.
“I’m only concerned with being chief justice,” Beatty said after his election. “I don’t want to speculate.”
In recent years, Beatty has angered some conservative lawmakers who were upset at two court rulings in which he was in the majority. In one, Beatty sided with consumers in a case involving closing fees charged by auto dealers. The other was the state’s long-lived school funding case, in which he sided with a court majority that said the law required state legislators to do more to improve public education for children who live in the state’s poverty-stricken rural areas.
Conservative lawmakers tried but failed to find someone to challenge Beatty.
For decades, the seniormost associate justice has assumed the chief justice position. Beatty’s uncontested election on Wednesday continued that tradition.
“This is proof we are moving forward as a state,” Beatty said.
State Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, who took issue with several of Beatty’s rulings earlier this year, even calling them “unconstitutional,” wound up voting for Beatty on Wednesday.
“I’ve had a difference of opinion with every member of the court at some point in time. That’s fair, we need to have those discussions,” said Martin, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chair of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission.
Differences of opinion with Supreme Court rulings have helped him realize that lawmakers need to write laws as clearly as possible “so there is no confusion,” Martin said.
State Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington, another Judicial Merit Selection Commission member, said, “Not only this historical, but we elected the right person today. He will rule by consensus, and we will end up doing a lot of things that will move our state forward. We ended up electing a very good man today.”
In another key judicial election Wednesday, Associate Justice John Few, running unopposed, won a 10-year term on the high court.
Legislators reject complaints, elect Court of Appeals chief
As uncomplicated as Donald Beatty election as chief justice was, another judge’s contest on Wednesday had lawmakers divided.
In the end, the Legislature elected Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Lockemy as that court’s next chief judge, despite allegations he broke rules on asking for lawmakers’ support.
The 121-20 vote was the most raucous judicial election in years.
That vote came after legislators rejected an attempt by Senate Judiciary Chairman Larry Martin to send the election back through the screening process.
Martin, also chairman of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, said allegations made last week should be thoroughly investigated.
But House Majority Leader Bruce Bannister argued the timing of the two affidavits was politically motivated.
The only other candidate, Court of Appeals Judge Paula Thomas, dropped out of the race before the vote.
Lockemy replaces John Few, who was elected in February to the state Supreme Court.
The Associated Press
This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Beatty wins S.C. Supreme Court chief justice post."