From The State: Toal Wins Historic Duel for Supreme Court Chief. Incumbent Jean Toal won re-election Wednesday as chief justice of the S.C. Supreme Court. The 170 members of the S.C. General Assembly elect state judges and the five justices of the Supreme Court. Toal, 70, who in 1988 became the first woman on the court, had the support of a majority of the Legislature’s 30-something Black Caucus members and numerous Republicans, including House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. Unsuccessful challenger Costa Pleicones will retain his associate justice seat on the court. Toal and Pleicones sat side by side in the House’s balcony, watching the vote. Next to them were the other three members of the Supreme Court. The vote took place in the S.C. House chambers, with state senators and state representatives voting in a joint session. The 46 senators voted first as a clerk called the roll. The 124 House members voted next, their votes registered on large electronic boards above the chamber. The vote meant that Toal, 70, will be able to serve through 2015 – the year she turns 72. Justices traditionally step down before or at the end of the year they turn 72. Toal has promised to vacate the post then. Had Toal lost, she would have been forced to leave her post in July, when her 10-year term expired. Toal, who with nearly 14 years in the chief justice post is already one of the longest serving justices in state history, had asked lawmakers to give her two more years in office so she could finishing modernizing the court system by putting court filings across the state on the Internet. The Supreme Court chief justice post pays $148,350 a year. The chief justice presides over the court and is chief executive officer of the $65 million-a-year judicial system, with its hundreds of judges and magistrates.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:35:35 +0000
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