George C. James, Jr.
2017 - Present
2030
8
George C. James Jr. is a judge of the South Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice. He assumed office on February 7, 2017. His current term ends on July 31, 2030.
The South Carolina General Assembly elected James to the South Carolina Supreme Court in February 2017 to fill the unexpired term of Donald Beatty, who was elected chief justice on the court.[1] To read more about judicial selection in South Carolina, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[2] James received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Education
James received an undergraduate degree in business administration from The Citadel in 1982 and a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1985.[4]
Career
James previously was a circuit court judge on the Third Judicial Circuit in South Carolina.[4] He took the bench on July 1, 2006, and served until he was elected to the state supreme court in February 2017.[4]
Prior to joining the circuit court, James was a partner at the firm of Lee, Erter, Wilson, James, Holler & Smith, LLC. He has practiced law in Sumter, South Carolina, since graduating from law school in 1985.[4]
Appointments
- See also: Legislative election
Justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court are chosen by the South Carolina General Assembly from a list of names provided by a nominating commission. Although official sources use the term election to describe this process, because it does not involve voters casting ballots in an open election, Ballotpedia considers this process an appointment.
2020
The South Carolina General Assembly re-elected James to the South Carolina Supreme Court in February 2020.[5]
2017
The South Carolina General Assembly elected James to the South Carolina Supreme Court in February 2017 to fill the unexpired term of Donald Beatty, who was elected chief justice on the court.[1]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[6]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[7]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
George
James
South Carolina
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct legislative appointment - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican legislature
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
James donated $25 to Republican candidates. He was appointed by a Republican controlled legislature. South Carolina was a Republican trifecta at the time of his appointment
Noteworthy cases
The section below lists noteworthy cases heard by this judge. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in South Carolina
- See also: Judicial selection in South Carolina
The five justices on the supreme court are appointed by the South Carolina Legislature to serve on the bench. The South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission screens and selects candidates for judgeships and then submits a list of three names to the General Assembly, who vote to confirm judicial nominees by a majority vote.[8][9]
Supreme court justices serve 10-year terms. Upon finishing their terms, judges are subject to re-election by the legislature.[9]
Qualifications
To serve on the supreme court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- between the ages of 32 and 72*;
- a resident of the state for at least five years; and
- licensed as an attorney for at least eight years.[9]
*A judge who reaches the age of 72 in office must retire by the end of that calendar year.[10]
Chief justice
The supreme court chooses its chief justice by the same legislative election process used to select other judges. The chief serves in that capacity for ten years.[9]
Vacancies
If a judge leaves office before the end of his or her term, the vacancy is usually filled by legislative election. The appointee serves until the end of his or her predecessor's unexpired term, at which point he must be re-elected by the South Carolina General Assembly to remain on the court. If less than a year remains in an unexpired term, the governor has the option to appoint someone to the unexpired term instead.[9]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Officeholder South Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Post and Courier, "Citadel graduate George James elected new S.C. Supreme Court justice," February 1, 2017
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 South Carolina Judicial Branch, "Justice George C. James, Jr.," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ South Carolina Judicial Branch, "Judicial Elections," February 5, 2020
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Albany Law Review, "The Untouchables: The Impact of South Carolina's New Judicial Selection System on the South Carolina Supreme Court, 1997-2003," June 30, 2004
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedSCgeneral - ↑ The South Carolina Office of the Attorney General, "To the Honorable Victor A. Rawl," June 7, 2004
Federal courts:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of South Carolina • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of South Carolina
State courts:
South Carolina Supreme Court • South Carolina Court of Appeals • South Carolina Circuit Courts • South Carolina Masters-in-Equity • South Carolina Family Courts • South Carolina Magistrate Courts • South Carolina Municipal Courts • South Carolina Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in South Carolina • South Carolina judicial elections • Judicial selection in South Carolina
