1999-2000 Bill 62: Courts, Supreme, Appeals, Circuit; Number of Justices and Judges, Election

1 BIL: 62 2 TYP: Joint Resolution JR 3 INB: Senate 4 IND: 19990112 5 PSP: Ford 6 SPO: Ford 7 DDN: l:\s-res\rf\004cour.jh.doc 8 RBY: Senate 9 COM: Judiciary Committee 11 SJ 10 SUB: Courts, Supreme, Appeals, Circuit; number of justices and judges, 11 election of by qualified voters 12 13 14 HST: 15 16 Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved 17 ______18 Senate 19990112 Introduced, read first time, 11 SJ 19 referred to Committee 20 Senate 19981118 Prefiled, referred to Committee 11 SJ 21 22 23 24 Printed Versions of This Bill 25 26 27 28 29 TXT: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A JOINT RESOLUTION 10 11 PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 2 OF ARTICLE 12 V OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1895, 13 RELATING TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE SUPREME 14 COURT, SO AS TO INCREASE FROM FIVE TO SEVEN THE 15 NUMBER OF JUSTICES COMPRISING THE SUPREME 16 COURT; TO SECTION 3, ARTICLE V, RELATING TO THE 17 ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COURT, SO 18 AS TO PROVIDE THAT ASSOCIATE JUSTICES OF THE 19 SUPREME COURT SHALL BE POPULARLY ELECTED 20 FROM CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS BY THE QUALIFIED 21 VOTERS OF EACH DISTRICT AND THAT THE CHIEF 22 JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT SHALL BE ELECTED 23 FROM THE STATE AT-LARGE; TO SECTION 8, ARTICLE V, 24 RELATING TO ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE COURT 25 OF APPEALS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT JUDGES OF THE 26 COURT OF APPEALS SHALL BE POPULARLY ELECTED 27 FROM CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS BY THE QUALIFIED 28 VOTERS OF EACH DISTRICT; AND TO SECTION 13, 29 ARTICLE V, RELATING TO JUDICIAL CIRCUIT JUDGES, 30 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT CIRCUIT COURT JUDGES 31 SHALL BE POPULARLY ELECTED FROM SENATORIAL 32 DISTRICTS BY THE QUALIFIED VOTERS OF EACH 33 DISTRICT AND THAT THE CHIEF JUSTICE SHALL ASSIGN 34 CIRCUIT JUDGES TO THE JUDICIAL CIRCUITS WITH 35 REASONABLE EFFORTS MADE TO ACCOUNT FOR 36 GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. 37 38 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 39 Carolina: 40 41 SECTION 1. It is proposed that Section 2, Article V of the 42 Constitution of this State be amended to read:

1 [62] 1 1 2 “Section 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice 3 and four six Associate Justices, any three four of whom shall 4 constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The Chief 5 Justice shall preside, and in his absence the senior Associate 6 Justice. In all cases decided by the Supreme Court, the 7 concurrence of three four of the Justices shall be necessary for a 8 reversal of the judgment below.” 9 10 SECTION 2. The proposed amendment must be submitted to the 11 qualified electors at the next general election for representatives. 12 Ballots must be provided at the various voting precincts with the 13 following words printed or written on the ballot: 14 15 “Must Section 2, Article V of the Constitution of this State be 16 amended so as to increase the composition of the Supreme Court 17 from five to seven justices? 18 19 Yes_ 20 21 No _ 22 23 Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a 24 check or cross mark in the square after the word `Yes’, and those 25 voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or 26 cross mark in the square after the word `No’.” 27 28 SECTION 3. It is proposed that Section 3, Article V of the 29 Constitution of this State be amended to read: 30 31 “Section 3. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall be 32 elected from the state at - large by popular vote of the voters of this 33 state for a term of ten years, and shall continue in office until his 34 successor shall be elected and qualified. The members Associate 35 Justices of the Supreme Court shall be elected by a joint public 36 popular vote of the General Assembly qualified voters of each 37 congressional district for a term of ten years, and shall continue in 38 office until their successors shall be elected and qualified, and 39 shall be classified so that the term of one of them shall expire 40 every two years. In any contested election, the vote of each 41 member of the General Assembly present and voting shall be 42 recorded. The terms of all persons serving as justices at the time 43 of the ratification of the provision providing for the popular

1 [62] 2 1 election of members of the court shall expire on December 31, 2 1999. The term of any member whose term expires prior to 3 December 31, 1999, shall be extended to December 31, 1999. Any 4 vacancy occurring on or after the date of ratification and prior to 5 January 1, 2000, shall be filled in the manner provided by law 6 prior to ratification.” 7 8 SECTION 4. The proposed amendment must be submitted to the 9 qualified electors at the next general election for representatives. 10 Ballots must be provided at the various voting precincts with the 11 following words printed or written on the ballot: 12 13 “Must Section 3, Article V of the Constitution of this State be 14 amended so as to provide that Associate Justices of the Supreme 15 Court shall be popularly elected from each congressional district 16 by the qualified voters of the district and to provide for the election 17 of the Chief Justice from the state at-large? 18 19 Yes_ 20 21 No _ 22 23 Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a 24 check or cross mark in the square after the word `Yes’, and those 25 voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or 26 cross mark in the square after the word `No’.” 27 28 SECTION 5. It is proposed that Section 8, Article V of the 29 Constitution of this State be amended to read: 30 31 “Section 8. The members of the Court of Appeals shall be 32 elected by a joint public popular vote of the General Assembly 33 qualified voters of each congressional district for a term of six 34 years and shall continue in office until their successors shall be 35 elected and qualify. In any contested election, the vote of each 36 member of the General Assembly present and voting shall be 37 recorded. Provided, that for the first election of members of the 38 Court of Appeals, the General Assembly shall by law provide for 39 staggered terms. The terms of persons serving on the Court of 40 Appeals at the time of the ratification of the provision providing 41 for the popular election of members of the court shall expire on 42 December 31, 1999. The term of any member whose term expires 43 prior to December 31, 1999, shall be extended to December 31,

1 [62] 3 1 1999. Any vacancy occurring on or after the date of ratification 2 and prior to January 1, 2000, shall be filled in the manner provided 3 by law prior to ratification.” 4 5 SECTION 6. The proposed amendment must be submitted to the 6 qualified electors at the next general election for representatives. 7 Ballots must be provided at the various voting precincts with the 8 following words printed or written on the ballot: 9 10 “Must Section 8, Article V of the Constitution of this State be 11 amended so as to provide that members of the Court of Appeals 12 shall be popularly elected from each congressional district by the 13 qualified voters of the State? 14 15 Yes_ 16 17 No _ 18 19 Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a 20 check or cross mark in the square after the word `Yes’, and those 21 voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or 22 cross mark in the square after the word `No’.” 23 24 SECTION 7. It is proposed that Section 13, Article V of the 25 Constitution of this State be amended to read: 26 27 “Section 13. The General Assembly shall divide the State into 28 judicial circuits of compact and contiguous territory. For each 29 circuit a judge or judges shall be elected by a joint public vote of 30 the General Assembly; provided, that in any contested election, the 31 vote of each member of the General Assembly present and voting 32 shall be recorded. Circuit court judges shall be elected from 33 judicial election districts, which shall be the same as the districts 34 from which senators are elected. One judge shall be elected from 35 each judicial election district by popular vote of the qualified 36 voters of the district. The Chief Justice shall assign circuit court 37 judges to the judicial circuits divided by the General Assembly, 38 and shall make reasonable efforts to assign judges to circuits 39 according to geographical location. He shall hold office for a term 40 of six years, and at the time of his election he shall be an elector of 41 a county of, and during his continuance in office he shall reside in, 42 the circuit district of which he is judge. The General Assembly 43 may by law provide for additional circuit judges, to be assigned by

1 [62] 4 1 the Chief Justice. Such additional circuit judges shall be elected in 2 the same manner and for the same term as provided in the 3 preceding paragraph of this section for other circuit judges, except 4 that residence in a particular county or circuit shall not be a 5 qualification for office. The terms of persons serving as circuit 6 judges at the time of the ratification of the provision providing for 7 the popular election of members of the court shall expire on 8 December 31, 1999. The term of any circuit judge whose term 9 expires prior to December 31, 1999, shall be extended to 10 December 31, 1999. Any vacancy occurring on or after the date of 11 ratification and prior to January 1, 2000, shall be filled in the 12 manner provided by law prior to ratification.” 13 14 SECTION 8. The proposed amendment must be submitted to the 15 qualified electors at the next general election for representatives. 16 Ballots must be provided at the various voting precincts with the 17 following words printed or written on the ballot: 18 19 “Must Section 13, Article V of the Constitution of this State be 20 amended so as to provide that circuit court judges shall be elected 21 from judicial election districts, which are the same as the districts 22 from which senators are elected, by popular vote of the qualified 23 voters of each district and to provide that the Chief Justice shall 24 assign judges to judicial circuits, with reasonable efforts made to 25 account for geographical location? 26 27 Yes_ 28 29 No _ 30 31 Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a 32 check or cross mark in the square after the word `Yes’, and those 33 voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or 34 cross mark in the square after the word `No’.” 35 ----XX----

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