Two district court judges and the chief judicial officer of South Carolina’s tax court are vying for seats on the state’s Court of Appeals. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Two district court judges — one of whom is the daughter of a state legislator — and the chief judicial officer of South Carolina’s tax court are vying for a seat on the state’s Court of Appeals.
Sumter Circuit Court Judge Kristi Curtis, state Department of Revenue Chief Legal Officer Jason Luther and Aiken Circuit Court Judge Courtney Clyburn Pope are running for seats on the state’s second-highest court, after Judge Letitia Verdin took the Supreme Court role earlier this year.
The three will appear before a legislative committee on November 18, 2024, that will screen candidates for the judiciary. If all three meet the required qualifications, they will be nominated for election by the General Assembly.
South Carolina is one of two states where the legislature elects almost all of the judges. Virginia is the other.
Curtis began serving as a magistrate judge in Sumter County in 2011 before the Legislature elected her to the district court bench in 2018. As an attorney, she worked in business litigation and served as a prosecutor representing the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department in magistrate court, according to her biography on the state court system’s website. Curtis also clerked for retired Judge Kaye Hearn when she was on the state appeals court.
Luther manages the Office of General Counsel within the state Revenue Department, providing legal advice on tax and regulatory policy and representing the agency in court. Before joining the agency in 2017, he was a civil litigant, according to his biography on the agency’s website.
Clyburn Pope has been on the bench since 2019. She began her legal career defending workers’ compensation cases. In 2016, she began serving as city attorney for the city of Aiken until she was elected to the district court. She is also the daughter of state Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, who has served in the House since 1995.
The elections are the first since a new law changed the way the state selects certain judges. It sets term limits for the panel members who vet judicial candidates, meaning all but three current panel members must vacate their seats for at least two years. It also allows the governor to appoint panel members for the first time.
And it gives the General Assembly more qualified candidates to choose from. The screening panel will nominate up to six qualified candidates for each seat, meaning that in all but one of the current races, all candidates can be sent forward for a vote.
Other contested judicial seats in the state up for election include:
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A circuit court seat previously held by the wife of former Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. President Joe Biden nominated Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin to the federal appeals court in August 2022. The U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination about a year later. Candidates include a Columbia municipal court judge, a former assistant state attorney general, a deputy solicitor and two assistant U.S. attorneys. Justin Williams, a member of the state’s Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, is also back in the race. He dropped out of an earlier race for the seat against former state Rep. James Smith, a Columbia Democrat who ran against Gov. Henry McMaster in 2018. Lawmakers broke precedent by rejecting Smith even though he was the only remaining candidate for the position, opting to restart the hiring process instead.
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The circuit court seat formerly held by Judge Bentley Price of Charleston, who was removed from the bench last year by the state’s judicial screening panel and chose not to reappoint him after advocates and victims’ families said he had made questionable rulings. Critics included 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, who, according to The State, argued that Price had shown leniency to clients of attorneys who are also state lawmakers. Candidates include a former deputy solicitor and public defender for the city of Hanahan, a municipal judge from Moncks Corner, two criminal defense attorneys and a real estate attorney.
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The circuit court seat formerly held by Judge Dan Hall. Hall has played a role in the litany of cases involving the family of Alex Murdaugh, approving a $15 million settlement between the family of Mallory Beach, who died in a boating accident involving the late Paul Murdaugh, and the owner of a convenience store that sold alcohol to the underage Murdaugh. The settlement was finalized two years after Paul Murdaugh’s murder. Candidates for Hall’s seat include a public defender and a magistrate judge.
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Two circuit court seats are being vacated by a pair of former state legislators — Judge William Keesley, who served a single term in the House before being directly elected to the bench in 1991, and Judge Cordell Maddox, Jr., who served three years in the House. Candidates for Keesley’s seat include two municipal judges, his daughter, who serves as a magistrate judge, and a pair of criminal and personal injury attorneys. Candidates for Maddox’s seat include a municipal judge, two deputy state attorneys, two public defenders, an assistant district attorney, and a pair of criminal and civil attorneys.
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There are five contesting elections for a seat in the family court and one contest for a seat in the administrative court.
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There are three contested master’s-in-equity races, including the seat of Joseph Strickland, who sued the Richland County legislative delegation when several lawmakers tried to unseat him. Strickland won the lawsuit but was eventually thrown out when his re-election came up again in January.
