He defended the Confederate flag and insulted immigrants. Now he's an SC judge.

[riversedge]

Source: PostCourier



He defended the Confederate flag and insulted immigrants. Now he’s an SC judge.

By Joseph Cranney [e-mail]
Nov 29, 2019 Updated 6 hrs ago


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When South Carolina lawmakers confirmed a batch of new magistrates this year, one nominee stood out from the pack: Mike Pitts.

The former state House member had made a name for himself in Columbia as a staunch defender of the Confederate flag, and on Facebook he has penned anti-immigration screeds and used racially charged language. In May, for example, he posted a photo of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, an African American Democrat running for president. His caption: “Cory Booker alway [sic] looks like he just hit crack real hard.”

None of this, however, prompted any discussion in June, when the state Senate confirmed Pitts along with 33 other nominees for the lower courts.

Unlike South Carolina’s felony and appellate court judges, magistrates are not subjected to legislative hearings before lawmakers sign off on their appointments. In fact, there’s rarely any public debate at all. Nominations typically sail through the upper chamber with a single voice vote.

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Read more: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/he-defended-the-confederate-flag-and-insulted-immigrants-now-he/article_fccd2722-1144-11ea-bf17-dbfc08c2afcb.html

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This is Trumps America. I imagine other states are appointing the same type bigots!!---especially in Red states.
This is SC -the home of the bigot and Trump swamp-rat--Lindsey Graham!





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Former S.C. State Rep, Mike Pitts, a Laurens Republican who chaired the House Ethics Committee, was appointed to the magistrate’s bench after he retired from the Legislature. File/Paul Zoeller/Staff




Editorial: SC senators won’t let us fix magistrate system. But here’s how to improve it


https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-sc-senators-won-t-let-us-fix-magistrate-system/article_e963aa1e-115b-11ea-8c34-679426598e85.html

You’d be hard-pressed to find a larger concentration of ethically challenged and incompetent judges than in South Carolina’s magistrate courts.

Any court system has some ethically challenged judges. And even ethical judges sometimes misapply the law.

But as an investigation by The Post and Courier’s Joseph Cranney and Pro Publica reveals, you’d be hard-pressed to find a larger concentration of ethically challenged and incompetent judges than in South Carolina’s magistrate courts.
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These SC judges can have less training than barbers but still decide thousands of cases each year
These SC judges can have less training than barbers but still decide thousands of cases each year

In the magistrate courts of South Carolina, citizens often must fend for themselves before judges lacking formal training in the law and whose errors can result in punishing consequences for defendants.

The system, Mr. Cranney reports, is “unlike any other in the country, and one that has provided fertile ground for incompetence, corruption and other abuse.” That’s because of a combination of laws and traditions that state legislators refuse to change.

Higher-court judges must pass the Bar, demonstrate their knowledge of the law and clear ethical checks; magistrates essentially have to have a pulse — and the right relationship with the local senator. Because appointment is all about politics.........................................

Chairman Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. There will be a handful of states where it will be safe to live if you are

any type of minority, 15 or so, the rest you will take your freedom and even your life in your hands just to drive thru them.

Someone explain to me how we stop this thru the election process...I dont understand how we do that, for instance when the SC has 6 rightwing traitors on it, we do what, nothing?

fuck that, we MUST do something

[appalachiablue]

2. K/R

[Historic NY]

3. He the type to watch constantly and box him in on every decision....

make him have to prove if he's bias on every decision...

[Evolve Dammit]

4. Great. A rebel traitor enthusiast. He can go to stright to hell, do not pass go.

[efhmc]

5. I was going to write, "what a good fit" but I think he will overstep and be taken down.

Be interesting to see if I am right.

[dalton99a]

6. "Appointees have gone on to make racist and sexist comments from the bench"

Magistrate Willie Bethune in Clarendon County, for example, said a defendant was attractive and asked her to show off her bellybutton. He was later accused of pressuring that woman into giving him sexual favors. While he denied the charges, he resigned amid an investigation by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which polices judges and lawyers in the state.

Charleston Magistrate James Gosnell, who is white, used a racial slur during a bond hearing for an African American defendant and was reprimanded by the disciplinary office; he described it as an ill-considered attempt to get the man to change his path in life. The judge remains on the bench today, reappointed in May.

Beaufort County Magistrate Peter Lamb called crack cocaine “a black man’s disease” and later resigned. As part of an agreement with the state Supreme Court, he acknowledged misconduct in that instance — and in others — and promised to never seek judicial office again, without permission.

The Post and Courier and ProPublica found Pitts’ Facebook page while researching the backgrounds of all 319 magistrates in South Carolina. Like many magistrates, Pitts, a retired police officer, doesn’t have a law license; to qualify for nomination to the lower courts, applicants need only to earn an undergraduate degree and pass a basic competency exam. Several of his posts appear at odds with key tenets of the state’s judicial code of conduct, which stresses impartiality and strict avoidance of words or actions that demonstrate bias or prejudice.

In a November 2017 post, he complained about people “from the Middle East” in Walmart and wrote, “after being subject to this incident I now support shutting down all immigration until we stop the demise of our culture.” And he has been recently photographed wearing a shirt reading, “Welcome to America Learn the Damn Language!”

In another post, Pitts criticized transgender people, saying “they aren’t sure what the hell they are.”

[sakabatou]

7. GAH!

[Progressive Jones]

8. Un-American confederate refuse. A foreign enemy, in my opinion. nt