South-Carolina
Editorial: Long-awaited reform on how SC picks judges will help, but it doesn’t go far enough
The reform measure the Legislature sent to Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday won’t solve the multitudinous problems with the way South Carolina picks judges.
The governor still won’t have anywhere near as much say as the Legislature in selecting the members of the third branch of government.
And lawyer-legislators still will retain inordinate sway over the careers of judges they practice before — creating the appearance if not the reality of preferential treatment.
But the bill — more than a year in the making and far longer than that in the needing — provides a good first step to addressing real and perceived flaws that threaten public confidence in our judicial system. We urge Mr. McMaster to sign it.
For the first time, it allows the governor to appoint some members to the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, which decides who legislators can elect or reelect to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals and the Circuit and Family courts. Governors have never had any say in those elections, and they still won’t participate in the vote, but S.1046 lets the governor appoint four of the 12 commissioners.
House and Senate leaders will still pick the eight other members, and six of them have to be legislators; technically, the bill allows all eight to be legislators, which would ensure legislators’ continued majority on the panel, but if House or Senate leaders choose to interpret it that way, it will be a massive betrayal of the public trust.
Perhaps equally important, legislators will be limited to four consecutive years on the panel, and all but three current members will be expelled from the commission when the law takes effect in a year. Among those leaving will be House Democratic Leader Todd Rutherford, who has made himself the poster child for how lawyer-legislators can manipulate that position to their personal advantage. (Additionally, commissioners have to resign if a relative files to run for a judgeship.)
As long as the Legislature elects judges, the governor should appoint all the members of the screening panel; that’s the only way to create the balance of powers that is foundational to our nation’s system of governance. Barring that, lawyer-legislators should be prohibited from serving on the panel: One chance to influence who becomes a judge — when they vote in the election — is enough; that second opportunity is the root of most of the evil that South Carolina’s prosecutors have been complaining about for more than a year.
It’s worth noting that lawmakers agreed to give the governor some say on the commission at the very same moment they reduced the commission’s power: It still will be able to end the careers and the hopes of judges and would-be judges, but in most cases, it no longer will be able to nominate its favorites from among multiple qualified candidates. Now, instead of nominating a maximum of three candidates for each seat, the so-called cap will be six — which is more than the number of candidates in most contests — so if six candidates are found qualified, all six of them will stand for election.
The other smart reforms are a requirement that screening hearings be livestreamed and a related ban on candidates dropping out before the commission issues its report on their qualifications. Both are designed to stop the panel from pressuring candidates to drop out after screening by suggesting that the public will see unflattering material about them if they don’t.
As Upstate Solicitor Kevin Brackett tells us, “This is helpful, but some of the main structures that ensure legislative dominance are still in place and need to be addressed.” That means getting lawyer-legislators off the screening commission and, ideally, allowing the governor to appoint all 12 members. It’s not too soon to start working on that next round of reforms.
After this weekend’s action, did the college football playoff open up enough for South Carolina to get in?
It was a chaotic weekend of college football as Ole Miss lost to Florida, Oklahoma dominated Alabama, Auburn beat Texas A&M in a thriller, Ohio State handled Indiana and Kansas upset Colorado. A lot of teams that were ahead of the South Carolina Gamecocks in the rankings, but the more important question is did enough spots open up for South Carolina to potentially sneak in?
The Gamecocks will certainly rise closer to the top 12 in the next release of the rankings. They came in at No. 18 this last week and will likely be somewhere around 15 in this week’s rankings. South Carolina might have been too far back to be on the back end of the playoff this go around, but they are certainly inching closer and closer.
There is however one problem for South Carolina. Despite Alabama losing, the Crimson Tide have virtually every edge for a playoff spot over the Gamecocks if a decision came down between them. Alabama has the head to head, they have the better win against Georgia, South Carolina lost to LSU and Alabama dominated LSU on the road. South Carolina does have the better strength of schedule ranking, but that hasn’t seemed to matter too much to the college football playoff committee.
The bottom line is South Carolina has played like on the best teams in college football as of late and has certainly done enough to put themselves into the conversation. However, if the decision came down to “which three loss SEC team do we want to put in?” the Crimson Tide likley check more boxes than South Carolina does.
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South-Carolina
South Carolina at Clemson odds: Early point spread released for Palmetto Bowl, How to Watch
South Carolina and Clemson are set to meet in a game that could potentially carry some College Football Playoff implications, however slim they may be.
The Tigers are looking to crack into the field with two losses, and they need every bit of momentum they can get to continue their climb up the rankings. A win over a very good Gamecocks team would certainly help.
According to lines listed by FanDuel, Clemson will open as a 2.5-point favorite over South Carolina in the contest. The game’s over/under point total has also been set at 51.5 points.
That sets the expectation going into the game: The Tigers are favored by a bit, but certainly not enough that you can make any sweeping generalizations about how the game should go. The Gamecocks can wreck games with their defensive line.
How to watch South Carolina at Clemson
Time: 12 p.m. ET, Nov. 30
Channel: ESPN, FuboTV (streaming)
Location: Memorial Stadium — Clemson, SC
Both teams have had a significant turnaround in the second half of the season after starting a bit slow out of the gates.
South Carolina had winnable games against LSU and Alabama slip by, but the Gamecocks have now ripped off five straight wins behind an improved sense of confidence and crisp execution from LaNorris Sellers and company.
The Gamecocks are playing with a different edge, perhaps following the tone set by a defensive line that can absolutely undress opponents at times. The Tigers will have to find a way to block that very good defensive front.
But Clemson has been good in its own right of late. The Tigers did let a game against Louisville slip away, but they’ve won nine of the last 10 games and have looked dominant in a few of them.
Both teams are coming off blowouts of inferior opponents, so they should be both well-rested and ready to roll on rivalry weekend.
Vegas has the Clemson-South Carolina contest pegged as a pretty close game, so buckle up and get ready for another edition of one of the south’s top rivalries.
Saturday marks the final home game of the 2024 season for South Carolina. The in-state and 5-6 Wofford Terriers will drive down I-26 from Spartanburg to Columbia to take on the 7-3 Gamecocks. Williams-Brice Stadium is sold out again, completing the program goal of filling the stands for all seven home games this fall.
Through the first ten games of the season, Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team has not repeated a uniform combination. Alternating garnet, black, and white helmets, jerseys, and pants, the Gamecocks also have mixed in some additional looks with throwbacks, alternate face masks, and updated helmet stickers and stripes.
On Saturday, the trend will end as South Carolina will repeat a uniform combination for the first time this season.
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Around lunchtime, the Gamecock Football account on Twitter/X hinted at the gameday uniform combination. The post showed a picture of what looked like the team’s throwback white helmets in front of an American flag.
Then, a little while later, the social media team revealed the rest of the gameday combination.
South Carolina has once again will rock its 1980 throwback uniforms. The Gamecocks also wore the look during the team’s blowout win over Akron earlier this season.
Saturday is Salute the Troops Day at Williams-Brice Stadium and also Senior Day.
The full list of Senior Day participants can be found here.
The Bouncer (2024) – Movie Review
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