Charleston Currents – Supreme Court

BRACK: Activist high court keeps S.C. election barrier in place

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | So the now-conservative U.S. Supreme Court, whose justices rail about judicial activism, now has butted into South Carolina politics with, you guessed it, activism.

At issue: How to cast ballots safely in November in the Palmetto State. The S.C. General Assembly recently voted to make it a little easier for state voters to cast ballots early in this coronavirus pandemic year by allowing anyone to vote absentee, thus dropping a list of reasons voters usually have to turn to if they want to vote early.

by Andy Brack · 10/12/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

The S.C. Supreme Court building in Columbia, S.C.

BRACK: High court lets legislature off the education hook

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Shame on a majority of the legislatively-elected S.C. Supreme Court for letting the General Assembly off the hook on funding poor, rural schools. State leaders haven’t yet spent enough money or done enough work to upgrade these neglected schools so that they’re on par with urban and suburban public schools.

On Nov. 17, the court ruled 3-2 to dismiss the 24-year-old Abbeville v. State of South Carolina school equity funding lawsuit. The order, however, is premature because state legislators only started moving these schools toward parity after a 2014 order by the court. Now without the court’s oversight, there’s no pressure on the General Assembly to make good on its promises.

With gazillions of dollars of state funding needs, do you really trust legislators not to continue a legacy of inattention in the so-called “Corridor of Shame” area where a multitude of challenges persist?

by Andy Brack · 11/27/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

HISTORY: John Rutledge

S.C. Encyclopedia | The exact date of birth for lawyer, jurist and governor John Rutledge (ca. 1739-1800) is unknown. The eldest son of Dr. John Rutledge and Sarah Hext, he studied law with his uncle Andrew Rutledge and with James Parsons in Charleston before attending the Middle Temple in London. Admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1761, he quickly became one of the most successful attorneys in the colony. On May 1, 1763, he married Elizabeth Grimké. They had ten children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 01/30/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

BRACK: Games being played over Scalia’s replacement

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The brouhaha over the next person who will sit on the U.S. Supreme Court is a political game of chess in which the people are being used as pawns.
Unless you’ve been asleep under a rock, you know the issue started with the unexpected recent death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Within hours, leading Republicans in the Senate said they wouldn’t confirm any nominee sent by President Barack Obama because they thought it was a job for the new president next year.

by Andy Brack · 02/29/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views