South Carolina’s Supreme Court will soon have no Black justices

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — All the justices on South Carolina’s Supreme Court are going to be white for the first time in nearly two decades. Circuit Judge Jocelyn Newman was the lone Black candidate for the state Supreme Court seat coming open. The only African American on the high court is Chief Justice Don Beatty. He has to leave because he has reached the mandatory retirement age of 72, and Newman has dropped out of next week’s election. Diversity on the bench is a big topic in a state where African Americans and Hispanics make up a third of the population. South Carolina will soon join 18 other states with all-white high courts.