Wyoming Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter

The palmetto state is one of only two in the nation where state supreme court justices are elected by the state legislature. Advocates are pushing for more diversity on the high court.

South Carolina is the only state with an all-male state Supreme Court. Now this year, the bench is losing its sole Black justice: Chief Justice Donald Beatty, who, like Hearn, must retire from the bench because of the state’s 72-year-old retirement age for judges.

“They made their own situation worse than it needed to be,” said Lynn Teague, with the South Carolina League of Women Voters.

Teague said the Legislature could have avoided this dilemma before Hill’s election, when he faced two women challengers who withdrew before the election.

South Carolina and Virginia are the only two states where lawmakers, not voters, elect most judges.

“I think they’re (lawmakers) unlikely to consider diversity as much as they should,” Teague said. “(It) will not be weighted as heavily as the real benefits of a diverse perspective would dictate.”

Read more and listen to the interview at the link above.