South Carolina Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of South Carolina is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is composed of a chief justice and four associate justices, who serve ten-year terms and may serve more than one. South Carolina is one of two states where the state legislature elects state court judges, including the justices of this court: a ten-person committee winnows the candidates for a vacancy to three, and the General Assembly then chooses one of them. The court has both original and appellate jurisdiction. It exercises exclusive appellate jurisdiction for state cases regarding the death penalty, state utility rates, judgments involving public bonded indebtedness and elections, and certain orders on grand juries and on abortions by minors. The court also oversees the admission of individuals to practice law and the discipline of attorneys. It sits in Columbia, the state capital, in a former post office built between 1917 and 1921 that the court moved into in 1971.