SC Senate majority leader says former speaker least qualified for supreme court
As a state Supreme Court election nears, the candidacy of the former House speaker continues to draw concerns from the state Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey on Wednesday spoke out against former House Speaker Jay Lucas’ candidacy for the state Supreme Court. Lucas, who left the House in 2022, has relationships with a decent portion of the General Assembly.
He is one of the people running for the seat currently occupied by Justice John Few, who is running for reelection.
Also running are Administrative Law Judge Ralph Anderson and Appeals Court Judge Blake Hewitt.
The election for supreme court is March 4 by the 170 members of the General Assembly.
House members have been seen tallying support for judicial candidates in recent weeks.
Massey, however, said if Lucas is elected, it will confirm what he calls unfounded suspicions that the judicial branch is beholden to the lawmakers who elect them or the legislature is electing people not qualified to be on the bench.
“We’ve been doing, as a legislative body, a good job of selecting Supreme Court candidates. Y’all this looks really bad. It looks like background deals are being made for someone who is not as qualified for, or deserving of the position,” Massey said of Lucas’ candidacy.
Massey’s more than six minutes in remarks took place at the beginning of Wednesday’s session.
“Electing a former legislative leader to the court with no judicial experience, when he is by all objective measures the least qualified for the position, if he’s qualified at all, is not right,” Massey said. “It is wrong. It gives credence to all the suspicion and attacks. It makes the unfounded founded and the unwarranted warranted, it soils the institution itself.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Luke Rankin, who sits on the judicial merit selection commission, also has previously expressed concern about Lucas’ candidacy.
