Judicial Seat, Sixth Judicial Circuit Court

2025-2026 Bill 714: Judicial Seat, Sixth Judicial Circuit Court - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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S. 714
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Stubbs and Blackmon
Document Path: SJ-0006MB25.docx
Introduced in the Senate on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on
Judiciary
Summary: Judicial Seat, Sixth Judicial Circuit Court
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

12/10/2025

Senate

Prefiled

12/10/2025

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary

1/13/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 27
)

1/13/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
Senate Journal-page 27
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
12/10/2025

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING
SECTION
14-5-610
, RELATING TO DIVISION OF STATE INTO SIXTEEN JUDICIAL
CIRCUITS; NUMBER OF JUDGES TO BE ELECTED FROM EACH CIRCUIT; ELECTION OF
ADDITIONAL JUDGES WITHOUT REGARD TO COUNTY OR CIRCUIT OF RESIDENCE, SO AS TO
PROVIDE THAT TWO RESIDENT JUDGES ARE ELECTED FROM THE SIXTH CIRCUIT.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
14-5-610
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
14-5-610
.
(
A) The State is divided
into sixteen judicial circuits as follows:

(
1)
The first circuit is composed of the counties of Calhoun, Dorchester, and
Orangeburg.

(
2)
The second circuit is composed of the counties of Aiken, Bamberg, and Barnwell.

(
3)
The third circuit is composed of the counties of Clarendon, Lee, Sumter, and
Williamsburg.

(
4)
The fourth circuit is composed of the counties of Chesterfield, Darlington,
Marlboro, and Dillon.

(
5)
The fifth circuit is composed of the counties of Kershaw and Richland.

(
6)
The sixth circuit is composed of the counties of Chester, Lancaster, and
Fairfield.

(
7)
The seventh circuit is composed of the counties of Cherokee and Spartanburg.

(
8)
The eighth circuit is composed of the counties of Abbeville, Greenwood,
Laurens, and Newberry.

(
9)
The ninth circuit is composed of the counties of Charleston and Berkeley.

(
10)
The tenth circuit is composed of the counties of Anderson and Oconee.

(
11)
The eleventh circuit is composed of the counties of Lexington, McCormick,
Saluda, and Edgefield.

(
12)
The twelfth circuit is composed of the counties of Florence and Marion.

(
13)
The thirteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Greenville and Pickens.

(
14)
The fourteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Allendale, Hampton,
Colleton, Jasper, and Beaufort.

(
15)
The fifteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Georgetown and Horry.

(
16)
The sixteenth circuit is composed of the counties of York and Union.

(
B)
One judge must be elected from the sixth circuit.
Two
judges must be elected from the first, second, fourth,
sixth,

eighth, tenth, and sixteenth circuits. Three judges must be elected
from the third, seventh, eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
circuits. Five judges must be elected from the fifth, ninth, and thirteenth
circuits.

(
C)
In addition to the above judges authorized by this section, there must be seven
additional circuit judges elected by the General Assembly from the State at
large for terms of office of six years. These additional judges must be
elected without regard to county or circuit of residence. Each office of the
at-large judges is a separate office and is assigned numerical designations of
Seat No. 1 through Seat No. 7, respectively.

S
ECTION 2. This act takes effect on July 1, 2027.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on January 13, 2026 at 1:08 PM