South Carolina’s next Supreme Court election will take place on March 4, 2026, and this is not a routine vote that should slide by unnoticed. This one deserves daylight, attention, and some plain talk.
In South Carolina, judges are not elected by the people. They are elected by the General Assembly. That alone puts us in rare company nationally and places a heavier responsibility on legislators to protect the independence of the courts. When lawmakers hold the power to both write the laws and choose the judges who interpret them, the guardrails matter.
This year, those guardrails are being tested.
A sitting Supreme Court justice, John Few, is being challenged for reelection. That almost never happens unless a judge has committed serious misconduct. That is not the case here. Instead, one of the challengers is a former Speaker of the South Carolina House, someone who until recently held immense sway over the very body now casting votes for the next justice.
That should give every South Carolinian pause.This isn’t about intelligence, credentials, or ideology. It isn’t about whether someone is conservative enough or progressive enough. It’s about whether the judicial branch can remain independent when the legislative branch starts reaching for the gavel.
The Speaker of the House is not just another legislator. That role controls agendas, assignments, relationships, and power. Those relationships don’t disappear when the title does. They linger. They influence. And when a former Speaker ascends to the Supreme Court, it creates the unmistakable appearance, and likely the reality, that legislative power is extending itself into the judicial branch.
Courts depend on trust. Not just trust in outcomes, but trust in process. People have to believe that rulings are based on law and facts, not favors, friendships, or unfinished business from the State House.
And let’s not pretend this concern exists in a vacuum. South Carolina has long struggled with perceptions of insider politics in its judicial system. The Judicial Merit Selection Commission is dominated by legislators. Judicial elections happen behind closed doors in the General Assembly.
Add to that a long history of family ties, business relationships, and professional alliances woven through our political class, and the result is a system that already feels too cozy for comfort.
Judicial reform has been discussed for years, and for good reason. Nepotism, whether through family connections or business relationships, erodes confidence just as surely as outright corruption. When judges, lawmakers, and influential attorneys all come from the same small circles, attend the same events, represent the same interests, and sometimes even share the same last names, the public begins to wonder whose side the system is really on.
This election shines a bright light on those concerns.South Carolina needs reform that strengthens transparency, reduces insider influence, and reinforces the separation of powers. That conversation cannot happen if we continue to blur the lines between branches of government. Moving legislative leadership directly onto the Supreme Court is not reform. It’s consolidation.
Some will say this is perfectly legal. That’s true. But legality is a low bar for something as important as the integrity of the highest court in the state. The real question is whether it’s wise, whether it’s fair, and whether it serves the long-term health of South Carolina’s democracy.
Judges must be able to rule against the legislature without fear or favor. They must be able to strike down laws, uphold rights, and interpret the constitution without looking over their shoulder at who might be voting on their future. That independence becomes fragile when the court itself starts to look like an extension of the State House.
This is where the public comes in.
Before March 4, 2026, South Carolinians should contact their legislators and make their expectations clear. Tell them you want a judiciary that stands on its own. Tell them separation of powers is not an abstract theory, it’s a promise. Tell them the Supreme Court is not a political stepping stone or a retirement landing spot.
The legislature already has the pen. It does not need the gavel too.
WHILE I BREATHE 