SETH WHIPPER LEAVING LEGISLATURE
South Carolina state representative Seth Whipper will step down from his legislative post in August to become a magistrate judge in Charleston County.
Whipper has represented S.C. House District 113 (map) for the past 21 years. His resignation will trigger a special election for this seat, but don’t expect it to be a particularly competitive race.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won Whipper’s district with 67 percent of the vote last fall – although that is slightly worse than former president Barack Obama‘s 73.2 percent showing in 2012.
News of Whipper’s judicial aspirations were exclusively reported by this website way back in January.
As we noted back then, we don’t like the idea of lawmakers becoming judges. In fact, we like that idea even less than we like the infinitely corrupt process of lawmakers appointing judges. Both practices dilute the independence of the judiciary and create all sorts of conflicts of interest.
Having said that Whipper is being appointed as a magistrate not a circuit court or appellate court judge, so the situation doesn’t give us an inordinate amount of heartburn.
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