Chief Justice John W. Kittredge urges magistrate reforms, cites backlog reductions in State of the Judiciary

Chief Justice John W. Kittredge opened his State of the Judiciary address to a joint assembly of the South Carolina General Assembly by urging lawmakers to continue supporting the courts while pressing for reforms to the magistrate system and judicial infrastructure.

"I am available to meet, speak, and work with you individually or in groups on any matters involving our justice system that are important to you," Kittredge said, calling for collaboration between the legislative and judicial branches.

Kittredge framed the address around four topics and used data to show progress on case backlogs despite a sharp increase in filings. He told members that more than 9,000,000 cases have been filed in recent years across the trial courts, and cited state court dashboards that track filings and pending cases. He said backlog measures are improving: criminal backlogs had declined about 16.9% in recent comparisons and the number of civil cases pending more than two years fell substantially even as filings rose.

The chief justice urged lawmakers to consider magistrate-court reform. He said South Carolina has more than 300 magistrates while the circuit and family benches total roughly 130 judges, producing wide disparities in pay and uniformity of services. "Magistrate reform is needed," he said, and described a wide pay range among full-time magistrates as a barrier to equity and to a more uniform system.

Kittredge stressed judicial infrastructure needs — from courthouse space to staffing — and reported the judiciary’s request to the legislature for additional judges in target areas. He said circuit courts now hold more terms of court than in recent years and credited judicial volunteers, retired judges and temporary assignments for helping to reduce backlogs. He asked the General Assembly to give the judiciary resources targeted to the areas of greatest need.

The chief justice highlighted family-court benchmarks and adoption-related work done by judges to move contested dockets. He also described programs such as Veterans Treatment Court with a personal success story: Mark Atkinson, a veteran who completed treatment and has been sober for more than two years after entering a specialty court program. "Mark made it," Kittredge said, using the example to illustrate how the court system can deliver individualized outcomes.

Kittredge closed by reaffirming widely shared judicial values — impartiality, care for victims and litigants, and attention to process — and asked the legislature to continue the collaborative work that he said had helped reduce backlog metrics while the state’s population increased.

The chief justice’s address was followed by the joint assembly’s business to elect trustees to multiple college and university boards.