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John Kittredge
2024 - Present
2028
1
John Kittredge is a judge of the South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice. He assumed office on July 30, 2024. His current term ends on July 31, 2028.
Kittredge was first elected to this position on February 6, 2008 and was re-elected in 2018.[1][2][3] To read more about judicial selection in South Carolina, click here.
On March 6, 2024, Kittredge was unanimously appointed as the chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court by the South Carolina State Legislature to replace Donald Beatty.[4] To learn more about this appointment, 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.[5] Kittredge received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Kittredge received his undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina in 1979 and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1982.[7]
After graduating from law school Kittredge clerked for William W. Wilkins, Jr., he then entered private practice. He was elected to the Family Court in 1991. In 1996, he joined the Circuit Court, where he served until his election to the South Carolina Court of Appeals in 2003. Kittredge was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court in 2008.[1]
In 2008, Kittredge said the following about his judicial philosophy:[8]
"The two finest qualities in a judge are humility and restraint. I believe very strongly in the rule of law and following the law instead of creating it from the bench on a case-by-case basis. I believe adjudicators adjudicate and legislators legislate. I think judges should not cross the line from adjudication to legislation."
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.
2024
The South Carolina State Legislature elected Justice John Kittredge to succeed succeeded outgoing Chief Justice Donald Beatty when he retired on July 31, 2024. Kittredge has served on the South Carolina Supreme Court since 2008 as an associate justice. Chief Justice Beatty retired due to reaching South Carolina's mandatory retirement age. Beatty's replacement was chosen by a Republican-controlled legislature.[9]
In South Carolina, state supreme court justices are selected through direct legislative appointment. Justices are appointed directly by the state legislature. There are two states that use this selection method. To read more about the legislative appointment of judges, click here.
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.[10]
2018
Kittredge was re-elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court by a vote of the South Carolina General Assembly on February 7, 2018.[1][3]
2008
Kittredge was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court by a vote of the South Carolina General Assembly on February 6, 2008.[1][2]
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.[11]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[12]
- 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.
John
Kittredge
South Carolina
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct legislative appointment - Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Republican legislature
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Kittredge was appointed by a Republican controlled legislature. South Carolina was a Republican trifecta at the time of his appointment
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Kittredge received a campaign finance score of 1.03, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.47 that justices received in South Carolina.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[13]
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.[14][10]
Supreme court justices serve 10-year terms. Upon finishing their terms, judges are subject to re-election by the legislature.[10]
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.[10]
*A judge who reaches the age of 72 in office must retire by the end of that calendar year.[15]
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.[10]
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.[10]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 South Carolina Supreme Court, "Justice John W. Kittredge," archived May 5, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Post and Courier, "Judge John Kittredge elected to state Supreme Court," archived January 14, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 South Carolina Judicial Department, "Court news," accessed February 8, 2018
- ↑ News From the States, "Meet John Kittredge, SC’s next chief justice," March 7, 2024
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Justice John W. Kittredge," accessed July 15, 2021
- ↑ South Carolina Appellate Law Blog, "Judge John Kittredge vows restraint as justice," February 1, 2008
- ↑ WLTX, "John Kittredge elected as next SC Supreme Court chief justice," March 6, 2024
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedSCgeneral - ↑ 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.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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
