When South Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the state’s 1st Congressional District map in 2022, few denied one goal was to make it easier for a Republican — specifically, incumbent U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace — to win the seat.
In fact, state officials argued exactly that when the district lines were unsuccessfully challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court last year, telling the court that the legislature’s intent in moving 30,000 Black voters out of the district was to disadvantage Democrats — not African Americans who happen to be Democrats.
This week, the League of Women Voters of South Carolina (LWVSC) asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in, arguing that such undisputed partisan gerrymandering violates the state constitution’s promise that every voter “shall have an equal right to elect officers.”
That language, argued ACLU attorney Allen Chaney on behalf of LWVSC, guarantees South Carolinians not just a right to vote, but a right to have their votes count as much as any other citizen’s. Partisan gerrymandering, he told the court, violates that right by intentionally diluting the impact of some votes while enhancing the impact of others.
In response, lawyers for the legislature and GOP Gov. Henry McMaster argued the state constitution gives lawmakers exclusive authority to draw district lines, meaning the court cannot second-guess their decisions. What’s more, the attorneys said, even if the justices disagreed with the exclusive authority argument, it would be unwise for the court to intervene in the complex “political thicket” of redistricting, which the court does not have the expertise to adjudicate.
For their part, the justices generally seemed hesitant to get involved, peppering Chaney with questions about what standard they could use to distinguish between a legal district with a natural Democratic or Republican majority and an illegally gerrymandered one.
“Intent,” Chaney answered, telling the justices that a violation occurs anytime “the state says, ‘You have to go vote there so that you don’t affect the outcome that we’re trying to achieve [here].’”
The court has not given an indication of when it will rule in the case.
In other recent news
Wilson officially enters governor’s race. South Carolina’s four-term Republican attorney general, Alan Wilson, kicked off his campaign for the state’s first open gubernatorial race in 16 years.
- Wilson wins 3 Lowcountry sheriff’s endorsements, challenging Mace in her own backyard
- Upstate S.C. Sen. Josh Kimbrell to soon enter governor’s race
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.
- US Supreme Court rules that S.C. can cut Planned Parenthood from list of approved Medicaid providers
State senator’s derelict boat salvaged, destroyed after year-long abandonment. Charleston Sen. Matt Leber’s boat, Rebellion, was removed from the Stono River and destroyed as part of a larger multi-agency effort to clean up derelict boats in Charleston waterways. Leber called the removal a “family tragedy,” saying he could not afford the cost of removal and repair. The situation came to light after Leber voted earlier this year to stiffen penalties for abandoned boat owners.
Suspended S.C. lawmaker assigned public defender. Suspended state Rep. RJ May, R-Lexington, has been assigned a federal public defender as he faces 10 counts of distributing child sex abuse material. May is accused of using the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange more than 200 different files of minors involved in sex acts on social message app Kik from March 30-April 4, 2024.
Combined health agency will streamline care, state leaders say. A bill that Gov. Henry McMaster signed in April created the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities by combining three agencies — the departments of mental health, disabilities, and alcohol and drug abuse services — into one. State leaders, including McMaster, say the combined department will allow better care for residents with substance abuse disorders, disabilities and mental health needs.
25 states restrict AI in elections; S.C. isn’t one of them. South Carolina enters the 2026 campaign season without any state laws preventing political candidates from using artificial intelligence to make unfounded attacks against their opponents.
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