Date:  May 16, 2011

Location:  Wall Auditorium, Coastal Carolina University

Event:  Panel Discussion

Partners:  LWV of the Darlington County; LWV of the Florence Area; American Association for University Women; Charleston School of Law; Association of Retired Americans; Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina; Coastal Carolina University; Coastal Carolina University Women's Resource Center; Horry County Public Library; Horry County Education Association + Retired

The League of Women Voters of Horry County Members-at-Large Unit teamed up with the League of Women Voters of Georgetown County to organize a forum investigating ways to promote diversity on the bench, featuring three panel discussions with legal practitioners.  The speakers provided a number of ideas and suggestions, including increasing the number of candidates who can be advanced from the Judicial Merit Selection Commission to the legislature.

The speakers included South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Kaye Hearn; Disciplinary Counsel for the South Carolina Supreme Court, Lee Coggiola; Representative George Hearn; Honorable Jennifer Wilson, Myrtle Beach Municipal Court; Solicitor Ernest Finney III, SC Third Judicial Circuit; and Natasha Hanna, attorney-member, Pee Dee Citizens Committee on Judicial Qualifications.

The event was featured in the Charleston Law News and SC News Now.

The full event is available as a four-part video recording on YouTube.

Date:  February – April, 2011

Location:  Fairforest, Lone Oak, Chapman, and Arcadia Elementary Schools, Spartanburg, South Carolina

Event:  School Program

Partners:  Boys and Girls Clubs of Spartanburg; Spartanburg County Historical Association

In collaboration with the Spartanburg County Historical Association, the League of Spartanburg developed an educational program on judicial selection in South Carolina to be used by elementary school students who participate in Boys and Girls Clubs in Spartanburg.  Each student was given a 25-page workbook that covered three lessons, after which he/she needed to share with three adults to explain what he/she has learned in this program.  The lessons culminated in a mock court event with role playing by participants and by invited members of the judiciary.  The project was so successful that the Spartanburg County Historical Association may add a second and third workbook covering the other two branches of government. 

The participating schools were Fairforest, Lone Oak, Chapman, and Arcadia Elementary Schools.  The mock court events were presided by Jody Cusson-Worley, City prosecutor; Ponda Caldwell, Probate Judge, and Tina McMillan, Magistrate Judge.

Date:  March 21, 2011

Location:  Cafeteria at the Darlington Magnet School, Darlington, South Carolina

Event:  Lecture

League Members Joyce Franklin and Sheila Haney presented a program, “How Diverse is the South Carolina Bench?,” to highlight that in South Carolina, only 22% of state judges using the merit-selection process are women, even though women comprise nearly 35% of lawyers in the state and make up 52% of the state population.  Only eight (or 7%) of the 118 judgeships are occupied by a minority judge.

Date:  February 17, 2011

Location:  Statehouse Grounds, Columbia, South Carolina

Event:  Meeting

The League of Women Voters of South Carolina held a meeting with members of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC) and their Chief Counsel, Jane Shuler, to articulate the goals of the ongoing education campaign.  The JMSC is composed of Senator Glenn McConnell; Senator John “Jakie” Knotts, Jr.; Senator Floyd Nicholson; Professor Emeritus John Freeman, University of South Carolina Law School; Amy McLester, private citizen; Representative  F. G. Delleney, Jr.; Representative Alan D. Clemmons; Representative David Mack; John Harrell, Esq.; H. Donald Sellers, Esq.