Date:  May 14, 2011

Location:  Quality Inn, Sumter, South Carolina

Event:  Conference

Partners:  South Carolina Women Lawyers Association

The League of Women Voters of South Carolina made the ongoing judicial campaign activities the focus of their 2011 State Convention in Sumter on May 14, 2011.  The Honorable Ruth McGregor, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona and a noted judicial independence advocate, delivered a keynote address (LINK:  http://lwvsc.org/files/mcgregor_speech.pdf) on the importance of a diverse bench.  The League bestowed on the Honorable Ernest Finney, the first African American Chief Justice in South Carolina, its “Spirit of Democracy Award” for his many years of service.  The conference also featured a panel on the topic of judicial selection featuring Circuit Court Judge Hon. W. Jeffrey Young; State Representative David Weeks; Janet Lynam, Pee Dee County Citizens Committee on Judicial Qualifications; South Carolina Women Lawyers Association Board Member Sarah  Leverette; and Charleston School of Law Professor Constance Anastapoulo.

The conference was covered twice in The Sumter Item.