Jean H. Toal

Who is Jean H. Toal?

Jean Hoefer Toal is the first woman and the first Roman Catholic to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Toal graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1965 and the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1968, where she was Managing Editor of the South Carolina Law Review. As a lawyer, she argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the Catawba Nation. She represented Richland County as a Democrat in the South Carolina House of Representatives for 13 years before being elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1988, the first woman elected to this position. She was elected Chief Justice in 2000. She served as the President of the Conference of Chief Justices from July 2007-July 2008.