S.C. High Court Rules in Favor of Partisan Gerrymandering
Jessica Holdman/S.C. Daily Gazette
COLUMBIA — The state Supreme Court upheld South Carolina’s congressional voting lines Wednesday by ruling there’s nothing unconstitutional about partisan gerrymandering.
The decision marks the second time in less than two years that a high court has validated the map redrawn by the Legislature following the 2020 census.
“After years of litigation — only for the federal and state supreme courts to tell us what we knew all along — I am grateful to see this matter finally resolved,” Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, said in a statement.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in May 2024 that the lines did not racially discriminate, the League of Women Voters sued in state court, using Republicans’ arguments that it was party, not race, that influenced the redrawing. Its lawsuit argued legislators violated the state constitution with a map that intentionally gave Republicans the advantage in the coastal 1st District, making it easier for the GOP to keep the seat after it flipped for a single term.
Justices disagreed unanimously.
The state constitution protects an individual’s right to vote. But “there are no constitutional provisions or statutes that pertain to, prohibit, or limit partisan gerrymandering in the congressional redistricting process in South Carolina,” wrote Justice George James in the majority opinion signed on to by justices John Few and Letitia Verdin.
Therefore, a partisan gerrymandering claim is a “political question” outside the court’s authority, he concluded.
Chief Justice John Kittredge offered a more limited view. While he agreed a court can’t resolve this particular claim, it’s possible “a future challenge may present more fully developed constitutional violations,” he wrote in a separate opinion signed on to by Justice Garrison Hill.
In response, the League of Women Voters said the ruling presents a contradiction: It indicates only the Legislature can address partisan gerrymandering, and that’s the same body responsible for the problem.
“Partisan gerrymandering is an attack on our most fundamental right as citizens, the right to vote,” Lynn Teague, the league’s vice president said in a statement, adding that the group “will not stop fighting for fair redistricting.”
She encouraged South Carolinians to demand a constitutional amendment to protect their vote. But that too would require the Legislature’s blessing. State law doesn’t allow a voter-led referendum. In South Carolina, it takes supermajority approval by both chambers just to put a question on the ballot asking voters if they approve changing the constitution.
The ruling comes as other states nationwide redraw their congressional lines mid-way through the normally decennial process to create more safe seats ahead of the 2026 elections, which will determine whether Republicans keep control of the U.S. House.
South Carolina’s justices have essentially condoned that behavior, said Allen Chaney, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, which represented the league.
“By washing its hands of redistricting, the Court marks itself satisfied with the idea that politicians can game the system to retain their own power and ushers in an even greater entrenchment of political extremism,” he said.
But in his opinion, Kittredge specifically pointed to the one-upmanship by states’ dominating parties as a “troubling prospect,” regardless of the legality.
The trend may end only with a new ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Kittredge said.
“We are seeing — and will continue to see — state legislatures race to further minimize and perhaps erase the representation of the state’s minority political party in Congress,” he wrote. “These results may, indeed, be in line with each respective state’s constitution and laws, but they collectively have the effect of diminishing our constitutional republic as a whole.”
The Senate GOP declared victory again, discounting the challenge as an attempt by liberal activists to undo Republicans’ redistricting map that Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law in January 2022.
“We worked hard to ensure that South Carolina’s districts reflected the politics of South Carolina’s voters,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said in a statement. “If the ACLU and the League of Women Voters aren’t happy with the results at the ballot box, maybe they should ditch their far-left positions, like gender-transitions for children, and get in step with South Carolina values.”
He also made clear South Carolina will not join other states’ moves to further redraw lines.
With six of the state’s seven congressional seats held by Republicans, there’s no need: “So much winning – and we’re not tired of it yet,” the statement read.
South Carolina’s 1st District 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.
Two years later, Mace ousted him by 1 percentage point, flipping the seat back to Republican control. After the redrawing of lines, Mace easily won in 2022 against Democrat Annie Andrews. She won by even bigger margins in 2024 without even acknowledging her Democratic challenger.
With Mace among Republicans seeking the Governor’s Mansion next year, the race to replace her in the district that runs along the state’s southern coastline is growing increasingly crowded.
On Wednesday, Dorchester County Councilman Jay Byars became the fourth Republican to declare his bid for the seat. He joined state Rep. Mark Smith (who replaced Mace in the state House), retired Air Force pilot Alex Pelbath, and retired doctor Sam McCown.
Four Democrats also have announced bids: FedEx driver Robert Beers III, lawyer Mac Deford, aircraft mechanic Max Diaz and state Democratic Party organizer Mayra Rivera-Vazquez.
