S.C. senators this year apparently had no interest in legislation to end the longstanding practice of allowing county magistrates to serve months or even years after their terms expired.
There's probably good reason for their lack of enthusiasm: Senators largely control who becomes a magistrate and how long they stay on the bench.
Statewide, 38 county magistrates in 17 counties are in “holdover” status – two of them serving more than 18 years past their terms in the home county of the Senate president, according to a list released this month by the S.C. Judicial Department after The Nerve filed a state Freedom of Information Act request, Governor's Office records obtained earlier, and Senate journals.
Having magistrates in holdover status gives senators more control over them, as at least one senator has acknowledged.
The 38 magistrates currently in holdover status represent nearly 13% of the total 298 magistrates listed on the Judicial Department’s website. Nine magistrates have been serving at least five years past their terms, Governor's Office records show.
Newly installed S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kittredge appointed seven of the holdover magistrates as the chief administrative judges of their respective counties for the remainder of this year, according to an Aug. 16 order.
The Nerve in 2019 revealed that in 12 counties, one senator controls the nominations of magistrates in those counties. That includes Oconee County, where four magistrates currently are in holdover status, with two of them – Chief Judge Blake Norton and William Derrick – each serving about 18 years and four months past their terms, records show.
In Oconee County, Republican Senate President Thomas Alexander, who's been in that chamber since 1994 and owned an office supply business, controls magistrate nominations as the only senator representing that county. But some Democratic senators also have that power in their counties.
Democratic Sens. Mike Fanning, who is the executive director of a nonprofit educational organization, and Ronnie Sabb, an attorney, have sole nomination control in Chester and Williamsburg counties, respectively. Two magistrates in Chester County, including Chief Judge Olivia Williford, and one magistrate in Williamsburg County have been in holdover periods ranging from about 16 months to 28 months, records show.
Fanning and Sabb were first elected to the Senate in 2016 and 2014, respectively.
The Nerve last week sent written questions to Alexander, Fanning and Sabb, asking them, among other things, if they believed whether keeping magistrates in holdover status gives them too much power over them.
None of them responded.
Magistrates in the state’s 46 counties handle traffic tickets, criminal cases with a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, and civil cases involving damages of up to $7,500. They also set bonds, issue search and arrest warrants, and conduct preliminary hearings in criminal cases.
Magistrates don’t have to be lawyers – and most aren’t, records show – though those appointed in recent years must have a bachelor’s degree.
The South Carolina Policy Council – the parent organization of The Nerve – last year issued a number of judicial reform proposals, including closing the magistrate-holdover loophole, and created a Judicial Reform Action Page to encourage citizen involvement.
Weighty votes
Under the S.C. Constitution, magistrates are appointed by the governor with “advice and consent” of the Senate, though in practice, senators control the selection process in their home counties, with the governor usually rubber-stamping magistrates nominated by senators.
Magistrates serve four-year terms “and until their successors are appointed and qualified,” under state law. That means they can continue working after their terms expire if allowed by local senators.
It also means senators with nomination control can fire judges in holdover status at any time. Senators have no firing authority by themselves while magistrates are serving their regular terms, though the S.C. Supreme Court can remove them for ethical violations.
In recent years, magistrates typically have received the most public sanctions – usually reprimands – of any type of judge disciplined by the Supreme Court, as The Nerve previously has reported.
Following a 1999 federal court ruling, votes by S.C. legislative delegations have been required to be weighted, based on the percentage of the population that delegation members represent. When it comes to nominating magistrates, senators with the most weighted votes in a county have the most power.
The Nerve’s latest review found that besides Oconee, Chester and Williamsburg counties where one senator has sole nomination control, senators in 10 other counties with a total of 21 magistrates in holdover status have at least 51% of the weighted vote in their respective counties, according to Judicial Department and Senate records.
That includes Darlington and Marlboro counties, which have three holdover magistrates each, including Darlington County Chief Judge Deatrice Curtis and Marlboro County Chief Judge Mia Weaver, both of whom have been serving about 16 months past their terms, Judicial Department and Governor's Office records show. Each county also has one magistrate serving in holdover status for about five years and four months.
Democratic Sen. Gerald Malloy has 83.7% and 90.87% of the weighted vote in Darlington and Marlboro counties, respectively, Senate records show.
Malloy, who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, also has 57.32% of the weighted vote in Lee County, which has two holdover magistrates, including Chief Judge Shirley Davidson, who's been serving about 10 years and four months past her term, according to records.
Malloy, an attorney, didn’t respond to written questions last week from The Nerve.
In Pickens County, Republican Sen. Rex Rice has 79.39% of the weighted voted, with Senate president Alexander having the remaining control, according to Senate records. In that county, two magistrates – Chief Judge Benjamin Dow and Associate Chief Judge Michael Baker – each have been in holdover status for about six years and four months, Governor's Office records show.
Interviewed last year by The Nerve, Rice, a contractor who's been a senator since 2016, defended his practice of keeping holdover magistrates, saying then, “By having them in holdover status, my belief is they are more accountable because I could change them tomorrow.”
As of February this year, there were 71 magistrates statewide in holdover status, including three in Pickens County, according to holdover lists from the Judicial Department and Governor’s Office, and Senate journal records, though Rice told The Nerve for a March story that one of the three judges was retiring.
The Nerve last September revealed that in Orangeburg County, Democratic Sen. Brad Hutto, a lawyer and the Senate minority leader, for more than a year represented dozens of mainly criminal clients before magistrates whom he played a prominent role in nominating.
Hutto, who's been in the Senate since 1996, acknowledged then that he and his attorney-son, who works in the same law firm, have handled many cases before magistrates whom he helped nominate, though he stressed that those judges never showed him, his son or any other lawyers in their firm any special treatment.
The Nerve’s latest review found two Orangeburg County magistrates have been in holdover status for about 16 months. Hutto and Democratic Sen. Vernon Stephens have 47.03% and 52.97% of the weighted vote, respectively, in the county, according to Senate records.
In last September’s Nerve story, retired Democratic Sen. John Matthews of Orangeburg County said that procedurally over the years, if a magistrate lived in Sen. Hutto’s district, Hutto would recommend that person for appointment, and he would sign off on the official nomination letter to the governor.
Protecting their turf
There was a legislative proposal this year aimed at ending senators’ control over holdover magistrates. But it didn’t come from the 46-member Senate.
On May 7, the 124-member House – which plays no direct role in selecting magistrates – approved an amended Senate judicial-reform bill that included keeping magistrates in holdover status no longer than 14 days past their terms, with the governor making interim appointments if the deadline wasn't met because of the Senate’s failure to act. The House Judiciary Committee added the holdover proposal to the bill on May 1.
But the provision was stripped out of the final Senate and conference committee – made of three senators and three House members – versions of the bill. Gov. Henry McMaster signed the bill without the provision into law on July 2.
In a letter last October to senators, the Republican McMaster called for reforms in the magistrate selection process, noting that dozens of magistrates then were “acting in a holdover capacity.” But although McMaster in his letter announced he was instituting a more detailed vetting process for magistrates, he didn’t specifically recommend banning the holdover practice and said he didn’t “presently intend to eliminate the practice” of receiving magistrate nominations from senators.
The judicial reform law, which takes effect July 1, 2025, makes some changes to the screening process for higher-level judges, such as increasing the size of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC), which nominates candidates for election by the Legislature, from 10 to 12. South Carolina and Virginia are the only two states where their legislatures play primary roles in selecting judges.
The new S.C. law gives the governor four appointments to the JMSC, though three legislators – the House speaker, Senate president and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman – will effectively control the commission’s makeup with the remainder of the appointments.
Senate president Alexander will have two of those appointments. As the sole senator representing Oconee County, he also will retain his power to nominate all of his county's magistrates – and keep them in holdover status as long as he wants.
