The judicial circuit that includes Aiken County now has a second judge.
The South Carolina General Assembly voted by acclimation Wednesday to elect Martha Rivers Davisson to a newly created seat on the Second Judicial Circuit bench.
The Second Judicial Circuit includes Aiken, Barnwell and Bamberg counties. There is one judge in the Second Judicial Circuit: Courtney Clyburn-Pope. At-large judges or judges from other circuits can also be assigned to hear cases in the circuit.
South Carolina is one of two states — Virginia is the other — in which most judges are elected by its legislature. The judges not elected by the General Assembly are: masters-in-equity and magistrate (gubernatorial appointment), probate judge (popular election) and municipal judges (appointed by municipal council).
"I am very honored to serve the state of South Carolina in this position," Rivers Davisson said.
Rivers Davisson practices from offices in Aiken and Williston, according to her website. Her areas of practice include civil litigation, personal injury, criminal defense and family law.
She said she's a small-town lawyer who practices in a variety of areas, and learned the desire to help from her parents, who owned the local drug store in Williston.
She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law and Furman University. Rivers Davisson is a graduate of Williston-Elko High School.
Judicial Merit Selection Commission Chairman Michah Caskey IV told the members of the General Assembly that Rivers Davisson was one of three people screened and found qualified to serve.
Caskey represents part of Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives.
The others screened and found qualified to serve were Grant Gibbons and David Miller.
Caskey then made a motion to withdraw the names of Gibbons and Miller from consideration.
The South Carolina General Assembly created the seat in 2022 along with seats in the Ninth (Charleston and Berkeley counties), 14th (Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, Colleton and Allendale counties) and 15th (Horry and Georgetown counties) Judicial Circuits.
The act that created the seats also created new family court seats in the First (Calhoun, Orangeburg and Dorchester counties), Seventh (Spartanburg and Cherokee counties) and 16th (York and Union counties) Judicial Circuits.
