Rare SC Supreme Court race will pit Associate Justice Few against challengers

Incumbent S.C. Supreme Court justices normally don’t face challengers when the legislature considers their reappointments every 10 years.

This is not a normal year.

In an upcoming judicial race, incumbent Supreme Court Associate Justice John Cannon Few has, as of Friday, three challengers eager to take away the $233,606-a-year job he’s held for nine years.

The challengers who have filed so far are former state House Speaker Jay Lucas, Administrative Law Court Chief Judge Ralph King “Tripp” Anderson and S.C. Court of Appeals Judge Blake Hewitt, according to the Judicial Merit Selection Commission’s chief counsel, Erin Crawford.

The filing deadline to turn in a completed application package for candidate’s seeking Few’s seat is noon Monday. By that time, all candidates must have notified the commission in writing of their intent to run.

Few’s term expires July 31, 2026.

If Few were to be elected for a new 10-year term, he would be in line to become chief justice when current Chief Justice John Kittredge retires in several years at the mandatory retirement age of 72.

“I am excited about the opportunity I have to get out there and talk with representatives and senators about my 25 years as a judge and justice,” Few said.

Few, 62, served as a trial judge and chief judge of the Court of Appeals before becoming an associate justice.

No one would talk on the record about why Few faces opposition, but sources said Few has upset conservative House members with a ruling perceived to be against pro-life forces in a 2023 abortion case concerning the state’s 2021 Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act.

In 2023, the Supreme Court issued two opinions on that Act. In the first, Few joined a majority that ruled the Act unconstitutional. After the Legislature revised the Act, Few voted to uphold it.

“Few wasn’t really ruling against the pro-life position — he said in the first opinion in effect that the Legislature needed to make findings of fact when it passed the law if it were to be constitutional. He sent it back to the lawmakers and really gave them a roadmap on how to fix the law,” said a source familiar with the judicial election process. “It wasn’t an anti-abortion thing.”

When the case came back to the Supreme Court, Few voted to uphold the pro-life position and the law is now constitutional, the source said.

Few was also part of a unanimous opinion in June by the Supreme Court that paused an increased compensation hike for General Assembly members, angering some lawmakers, the source said.

The move to unseat Few is unfortunate, the source said. “Every judge in the state is going to be scared to death to issue an opinion if they feel like they are going to be taken out if it’s not politically popular. It’s just bad for the judiciary.”

Lucas was a popular speaker before voluntarily vacating his seat in 2022. He is now 68 and would only be able to serve on the high court about three years. But during those years, he would possibly qualify for a judge’s pension, which would be significantly more than his pension based on his approximately 22 years as a House member.

Both Hewitt and Anderson have run unsuccessfully for the Supreme Court in the past.

(Editor’s note: This story originally incorrectly reported the term for a State Supreme Court justice. The term is for 10 years.)

This story was originally published August 23, 2025 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Rare SC Supreme Court race will pit Associate Justice Few against challengers."