MORNING HEADLINES | South Carolina Supreme Court justices in a hearing yesterday said there’s nothing in the state constitution that specifically bans the consideration of politics in redrawing voting maps.
Voter advocacy group the League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit in July 2024, arguing that political gerrymandering of the map redrawn by legislators and signed into law in January 2022 watered down Democrats’ influence in S.C. District 1. The group said that the impacts violated the state constitution’s guarantee of an “equal right to elect officers.”
The lawsuit followed a 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May 2024 that tossed out an earlier case brought by South Carolina chapters of the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.
John Gore, the lawyer representing Senate Republicans, asked the court not “to wade into this political thicket.” Attorneys argued that a ruling that seeks to create political parity is likely to go too far and swing election results to the other party’s favor — in this case, Democrats’.
The S.C. District 6, which borders District 1, has been gerrymandered to be a safe seat for Democrats since the post-1990-census redistricting. U.S. Rep. Clyburn, South Carolina’s lone Democrat in Congress, was first elected in 1992 following that map overhaul.
South Carolina’s District 1 has long been reliable for Republicans. However, a population explosion on the coast turned it more purple. In 2018, Democrat Joe Cunningham flipped the seat to blue for the first time in nearly 40 years with a 1-percentage-point win.
Two years later, Mace ousted him by 1 point, flipping the seat back to Republican control. But after the post-census redrawing of lines, Mace easily won in 2022 against Democrat Annie Andrews by almost 14 points. Last November, Mace won re-election by nearly 17 points without ever debating or even hardly acknowledging her opponent.
Lawyers for the Republican-led Legislature concluded their arguments saying if South Carolinians do not like the results of an election or the way congressional lines are drawn, they have other ways of changing them that don’t involve the courts.
In other headlines:
Downtown Charleston to see new upscale Indian restaurant. The owners of Mount Pleasant’s Spice Palette say they plan to open a new restaurant in downtown Charleston this summer. It will feature foods from Southern and Northern India, as well as “bold new interpretations that highlight the bounty of Charleston’s waters,” according to a press release.
Berkeley County stresses pet safety as temperature rise. With Lowcountry temperatures spiking, Berkeley County officials are asking pet owners to protect their pets from extreme heat.
North Charleston police sponsor Gun Violence Awareness Month event. The North Charleston Police Department held a community gun violence awareness event featuring hot dogs and baseball at the Fairwind-Oakfield Apartments on Wednesday night. “We’d had great interaction with a lot of kids,” said NCPD Lieutenant Tireka Wright.
Charleston County School District trustees give themselves a pay raise. CCSD board members voted on Wednesday to more than double their pay, from $800 a month to $1,750, with automatic future raises anytime they vote to increase district staff pay. In return, members are expected to attend meetings and vote on at least half the items presented.
S.C. advocates warn of ‘devastating’ effects from proposed federal cuts to health care, nutrition assistance. S.C. health and nutrition advocates say the state’s working poor would lose crucial benefits if President Donald Trump’s budget megabill becomes law.
State declared ‘drought free’ in all 46 counties. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’s Drought Response Committee announced on Wednesday that a drought affecting 9 counties is officially over. Rainfall of 10-15 inches over the past 60 days brought the areas back to normal, the committee found.
S.C. Supreme Court temporarily halts pay raise for legislators. The S.C. Supreme Court granted a temporary injunction to halt an $18,000-a-year pay raise for legislators from taking effect while it reviews a constitutional challenge to the hike. The case was brought by York County GOP Sen. Wes Climer, who argues that legislators are explicitly barred from raising their pay without an intervening election.
S.C. LGBTQ groups try to fill gap with federal suicide hotline set to end. An LGBTQ-focused federal suicide hotline is set to end in mid-July, and S.C. groups say they will try to help fill the unmet need. “The decision itself is deeply dangerous,” said We Are Family’s Domenico Ruggerio. “We know that LGBTQ youth are already at significantly higher risks for suicide due to isolation, discrimination and they face systemic barriers to care.”
S.C. women’s prison wins grant to support hydroponic farming program. Inmates at South Carolina’s women’s prison will receive stipends and additional training in hydroponic farming techniques thanks to a $97,000 grant from Power:Ed. The program was established in 2023, with more than $1 million in grants from private funders.
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