State of the Judiciary Address Raises Questions
February 14, 2008
I’m sorry that the shoddy camera work looks like it came from a Parkinson’s patient off his meds, but it got difficult to take notes, pictures (with a bad camera phone), and Twitter while Chief Justice Jean Toal addressed a less than enthusiastic legislature yesterday. In case you’re wondering, that’s the honorable Jean Hoefer Toal circled in the photo.
MC and Bo hung out in the lobby while I sat in the House chamber waiting for, well, something.
Chief Justice Toal said that the judiciary is made of people of “decency and honor.” Of that, at least for the most part, I have no doubt.
There are still some things about the bar exam flap that still concern me, though. Her remarks yesterday just stirred them again.
The chief justice said that each exam was “key-coded” and that the key was only available to the Supreme Court’s clerk and the examination staff. She added that the results were certified, and a week later an examiner realized he or she “transposed several lines” which resulted in passing someone who failed.
That brings a couple of questions to mind, though. They are real questions, so I’m hoping someone can enlighten me on the examination procedure. First, why did an examiner have the records in the first place? Wouldn’t he or she have to turn them in order for his or her charged examinees to be certified? According to the chief justice the mistake was discovered one week after certification. I just don’t understand that logistically.
Second, how would a person know if the lines were transposed? Someone would have had to 1) have access to the grading records 2) known the identity of the examinees and their scores to know that lines were transposed 3) told the examiner about the problem — probably also having to identify examinees in the process.
I know she said that test examiners did not know and could not identify examinees or their law schools, and I am not calling her a liar by any means, but even she has to admit, there is strong circumstantial evidence to contradict her statement. In this great state known for swift justice, we’ve convicted people of crimes with far less evidence.
Bo already wrote about this in his own “direct” way a couple of weeks ago, but to reiterate, the altered results gave the Charleston School of Law the passing average it needed for accreditation, and one of the beneficiaries of the change (and daughter of respected lawmaker and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Harrison) openly bragged about the accomplishment.
It just seems like there are still discrepancies to be accounted for and questions to be answered.
– Wilson Charles
Entry Filed under: Wilson Charles -- Politics and Finance. Tags: Bar Exam, Supreme Court.
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1.
Rotten in Denmark | February 14, 2008 at 1:35 pm
You forgot the best part of her speech yesterday. It was something like, “We prize in South Carolina rich and enduring personal relationships.” That’s an understatement.
Add that to THE STATE newspaper’s discussion of Jim Harrison (http://www.thestate.com/local/story/316687.html).
Rick Brundrett wrote:
“Harrison told The State earlier he contacted court officials after learning his daughter flunked the exam, though he stressed he did so only out of concern that an unusually large number of examinees might have failed the wills, trusts and estates section.
“Toal said Wednesday her clerk of court — whom Harrison said he contacted — informed her about the discovery of an examiner’s scoring error on the wills, trusts and estates section. But she said as her court ‘deliberated this matter, we had no information about the identity of the examinees or their law schools.’
“Harrison, who attended Wednesday’s speech and spoke with the other four justices beforehand, said afterward he believes clerk of court Dan Shearouse never informed Toal about their earlier conversation.
“’I know there are people out there who believe in conspiracies,’ Harrison said. ‘But where is there any evidence that would disprove what she said? I would love to see it.”
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That brings some additional points.
1) The article said that Harrison contacted officials as a concerned father. How many concerned fathers could pick up the phone and call the South Carolina Supreme Court? He’s the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. That doesn’t carry weight?
2) Toal said she was informed of the scoring error by the clerk, but Harrison said he didn’t think the clerk told her? Is Chairman Harrison calling Chief Justice Toal a liar?
3) Harrison said he wanted to see some evidence of a conspiracy. Isn’t that what the screen shot of his daughter’s Facebook page is?
You’re right. There’s still a lot to be said, and it points to how we elect judges in this state. I don’t know what’s worse, judges campaigning like everyone else or judges beholden to the legislature that is responsible for their reelection.
2.
THE GREENVILLE NEWS Naile&hellip | May 1, 2008 at 1:11 pm
[...] Bar exam debacle has already been a topic of discussion on this site at least twice (see Here and Here), and other sites gave their opinions over the past few months. Harvell’s recent illustration [...]