COLUMBIA — Five judges, so far, have filed to run for a seat on South Carolina’s highest court, including the ex-wife of a late Republican state representative and two sitting Appeals Court judges.
Hopefuls still have until Aug. 24 to turn in an application, according to the panel that screens judicial applicants in the state. To date, the five candidates seeking a 10-year term on the state Supreme Court are:
- Administrative Law Court Judge Ralph “Tripp” Anderson
- S.C. Appeals Court Judge John Geathers
- Judge Eugene “Bubba” Griffith, Jr., a Circuit Court judge from Newberry
- S.C. Appeals Court Judge Blake Hewitt
- Judge Maite Murphy, a Circuit Court judge from Summerville
South Carolina Supreme Court justices, and most other judges, are elected by the legislature. The Supreme Court opening comes after former Justice John Few dropped his bid for re-election in March, a day before the Legislature was scheduled to vote.
Last year, Few became the first sitting justice in more than 20 years to face a challenge to keep his seat. His three opponents included the former leader of the state House.
Few dropped out of the running when it became clear he would not win and that Jay Lucas, the former House speaker, had sealed up the vote.
Lucas was criticized as a political insider with no judicial experience, though that did not appear to deter his supporters. However, Few’s resignation ultimately forced the election’s cancellation and reopening of the application process.
So far, Lucas is not among the applicants.
Of those on the list, Murphy is the latest to file.
The now 57-year-old also ran in 2022 for the seat vacated by former Justice Kaye Hearn, who was retiring.
Murphy dropped out almost two months before screenings began amid questions about whether her then-husband, former state Rep. Chris Murphy, then chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, would lead to too much influence. Hearn, who Murphy sought to replace, had ascended to the Supreme Court while her husband, state Rep. George Hearn, R-Conway, was in office and a member of the same committee.
Kaye Hearn served on the high court from 2009 until early 2023. Her final opinion, written for a 3-2 majority, struck down the state’s first so-called “fetal heartbeat” law as violating the state constitution’s protection from unreasonable invasions of privacy.
In considering her replacement, legislators and lawyers questioned whether Hearn, one of only two women ever to serve on the Supreme Court, should be replaced by a man or a woman. They ultimately elected Court of Appeals Judge David “Gary” Hill.
The Legislature then passed a new version of the law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which the all-male court then upheld.
Murphy started her career as a magistrate in 2009 and rose to the circuit court bench in 2013. If legislators were to elect her, Murphy would join sitting Justice Letitia Verdin as a second woman on the state Supreme Court.
Murphy’s application comes less than a month after the death of her ex-husband in his home in Dorchester County. The two divorced in May, court records show. Chris Murphy resigned from the House in 2025.
Of the other candidates, Anderson and Geathers have the most experience. Both started their judicial careers in 1995 on the Administrative Law Court.
Anderson has been on that court ever since and became the court’s chief judge in 2009. The 66-year-old Columbia judge has made numerous unsuccessful runs for the Supreme Court.
The General Assembly elected Geathers to the Court of Appeals in 2008. He was last re-elected in 2024.
Before becoming a judge, he was senior counsel to the Office of Senate Research for the state Senate.
If elected, the 65-year-old from Blythewood would be the third Black justice on the state Supreme Court since Reconstruction.
A recent law change also would mean Geathers could serve all but seven months of the 10-year term. The law, signed Thursday by Gov. Henry McMaster, raised the mandatory retirement age for South Carolina judges from 72 to 74. Geathers could stay on the bench through the end of 2035.
Geathers’ Appeals Court colleague, Hewitt, is making his third consecutive run for the Supreme Court.
The Conway native has made two unsuccessful bids. The first was in 2024 for the vacancy caused by the retirement of former Chief Justice Don Beatty and ascension of now Chief Justice John Kittredge to that role. The second was last year as a challenger to Few. Hewitt, 48, was first elected to the bench in 2019 after years as an appellate lawyer.
Griffith has been a Circuit Court judge since 2009. Before that, the 62-year-old was in private practice, reopening the office formerly operated by his father and grandfather.
His grandfather, the late Judge Steve C. Griffith, was also a judge, serving 22 years in the 8th Circuit.
Hearings begin Nov. 16 to screen all applicants. An election is tentatively scheduled for March 3, 2027.
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