Guest Column: S.C. Supreme Court Becomes ‘Political Spoils System’
- SCCLR Newsletter
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
David Pascoe: “Power, not justice, determines who gets a seat on the state’s highest court.”
By: FITSForum & David Pascoe
Here we go again. Another round of cronyism at the Statehouse. Another example of insiders elevating insiders at the expense of the people of South Carolina. And this time, the stakes could not be higher, because they are doing it with our Supreme Court.
While the latest scandal doesn’t involve the election of a legislator’s spouse, cousin, or child like past elections, it is just as outrageous: Jay Lucas, the former Speaker of the House, is now telling legislators that the mandatory retirement age of 72 does not apply to him as he seeks a ten-year term on the South Carolina Supreme Court. He is 68. That means if he wins, he plans to serve well past the age every other judge in this state has respected for decades.
When asked directly whether he believed he could serve until age 79 or 80, he told the Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC), “I think I can serve my entire term.”
Just like that. No hesitation. No humility. No respect for the law. A former Speaker telling the Legislature, who elects the judges, that the rules simply do not apply to him.
This is exactly what happens when a political class owns the judiciary. They believe they are untouchable.
Let’s be clear: the issue is not Jay Lucas’ age. It is the corrupt system that allows a former Speaker, a man who led the very lawmakers who now control the JMSC, to walk into a hearing and declare himself exempt from the law.
This is what I have been warning about for years. This is why I have spoken to Republican groups across the state for the last four years demanding JMSC reform. This is why I testified in the House that lawyer-legislators should have zero control over choosing judges.
Because if you allow legislators to elect the judges they practice in front of, you will get exactly what we have now – a judiciary that serves politicians instead of the people.
A judiciary where:
A former Speaker believes he can rewrite the law with a shrug.
Conflicts of interest are not the exception but the rule.
A system where judges look over their shoulder to make sure not to offend a lawyer legislator on the JMSC.
Power, not justice, determines who gets a seat on the state’s highest court.
John Crangle said it plainly: Lucas’ interpretation of the law is “a brazen violation” of both the Attorney General’s opinion and the intent of the statute. He’s right. And every South Carolinian should be furious that this is even being debated.
Our judiciary must be a place of integrity, independence, and equal justice under the law. Instead, our legislature is turning it into a political spoils system, where those with influence get rewarded and those without it get run over.
When I led the recent Statehouse corruption probe, the political class and their consultants did everything they could to stop me. And now, here we are watching that same old guard try to elevate one of its own members to the Supreme Court while pretending the rules don’t apply.
The citizens of South Carolina deserve better than this. They deserve an independent judiciary they can trust. They deserve judges selected on merit, not political connections.
They deserve a system where no man, not even a former Speaker, is above the law.
When are the people of South Carolina going to rise up and say enough is enough? I believe that 2026 is the year. If not now, never.
If we want a justice system that actually delivers justice, then we have to dismantle the cronyism that has infected our system for decades. We need real JMSC reform. We need to remove lawyer-legislators from judicial selection. We need to end the era of insiders appointing insiders.
And we need leaders who are not afraid to call it what it is: corruption. I fought it before. I’ll fight it again. South Carolina deserves nothing less.
