By admin 
Five candidates declared by Monday’s noon deadline that they are running for the vacant S.C. Supreme Court associate justice post created by the departure of longtime justice John Cannon Few.
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They are:
- Court of Appeals judges Blake Hewitt of Conway and John Geathers of the Blythewood area.
- Administrative Law Court Chief Judge Ralph King “Tripp” Anderson III of Columbia.
- Eighth Circuit Court Judge Eugene “Bubba” Griffith of Newberry and At Large Judge Maite Murphy.
One person whose name is not on the list is that of attorney and former S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas, who ran last year against incumbent Few.
Unlike nearly all other candidates for a justice’s post over the years, Lucas is not a judge. His political ties, however, were enough to assure him support in the 124-member S.C. House of Representatives and enough votes in the 46-member state Senate to force other candidates — including Few — in the race to drop out.
When Few dropped out, it did not mean that Lucas would win. That’s because when Few dropped out the day before the justice election was scheduled to be held, it triggered a rarely used judicial selection rule that required the election to be canceled and a new, monthslong selection process to being.
Few’s opinions in recent years in an abortion case and a legislative pay case left him vulnerable to a challenge, some lawmakers said. In the abortion case, Few first ruled in a 3-2 majority decision to overturn a new state abortion law, angering right-to-life lawmakers who make up a substantial legislative voting bloc. Few later approved an overhauled abortion law.
Few’s other purported transgression was to join a unanimous opinion in November that said lawmakers could not vote themselves a pay raise in an ongoing legislative session.
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Lucas, who became speaker in 2014 and retired from the House in 2022, was making his first run for any type of state judgeship in his bid for a seat on the state’s top court.
Ordinarily, judicial candidates must “get in line” and make several runs for the coveted seat. During the past five years, Lucas has practiced law only part-time and been a senior executive vice president for governmental affairs at Prisma Health, a corporation with major hospitals in the Greenville and Columbia areas and $7 billion in revenue last year, from October 2022 through October 2024, he told the Joint Merit Selection Commission.
Lucas could not be reached for comment.
Few, 63, because he was the second-ranking justice on the high court in terms of seniority, was next in line to succeed Chief Justice John Kittredge, 69, when Kittredge retires in a few years.
The term on the five-member court is for 10 years, to expire July 31, 2026, and the associate justice pay is $233,606.
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This is a breaking news story and will be updated.