In the case of Georgia, since no Republican won the Governorship for over 130 years, we were shut out there until 2003 (and we didn’t gain complete control of the legislature until 2005).
South Carolina’s is simply bizarre. The newest appointee, Donald Beatty, (in 2007) is a former Black Democrat legislator. At this point, diversity on the bench would be appointing 1 single friggin’ Republican ! What makes no sense is that the legislature elects the members and we’ve had a GOP House since 1995 and Senate since 2001 and therefore given that the Justices are reelected every 10 years, the entire court should be Republican now. As for the ideology of the justices, I’m not sure. Beatty, I believe, is a moderate, but I can’t say beyond that.
Maybe SC people, with their love of Lindsey Graham, are now apologizing for the early years of Thurmond, which Lott seemed to have recognize favorably AT FIRST.