Don’t Take It Out on the Qualified Female Candidate
While York County should be positioned to have our first female Circuit Court judge, I am witnessing the process by which the lone candidate deemed “qualified and nominated” by our state’s Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC) is getting set up for derailment by our local elected legislators. Even worse, my 13-year old daughter, who is considering becoming a lawyer or judge and wrote Girls Need Role Models Too!!, is seeing this too.
South Carolina is one of only two states where judicial candidates are elected by legislators. This process unfortunately does not shield qualified women from daunting opposition in our overly politicized environment – even when they face no opponents for a nonpartisan role.
On the bright side, 45% of the judicial seats up for election this year have at least one female candidate nominated.
If our elected representatives don’t like the system of selection, then they should fix it. Don’t take it out on the qualified female candidate. This is only discouraging burgeoning lawyers and judges like my daughter, and potentially contributing to a backlog of cases by leaving our 16th Judicial Circuit, Seat 2, empty.
Liz Duda, York County resident, South Carolina Women in Leadership board of directors
*Views I express are mine alone and do not reflect opinions of any organizations for which I volunteer or work.