Groups sue over South Carolina’s congressional maps

(The Center Square) — Groups are mounting a new challenge to South Carolina’s congressional districts, which they say are gerrymandered and "artificially entrenches the power of one political party and violates the fundamental constitutional rights of South Carolina voters."

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of South Carolina and Duffy & Young filed the lawsuit this week on behalf of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina. The suit, filed in the South Carolina Supreme Court, names Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla; House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter; and Howard Knapp, executive director of the South Carolina Election Commission.

In the suit, the groups argue that lawmakers violated the state constitution by creating an artificial Republican advantage in the First Congressional District, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina. They also contend Republicans asked their cartographer to move Democratic voting precincts from the First Congressional District to the Sixth Congressional District, currently represented by U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina.

"Partisan gerrymandering is cheating, plain and simple," Allen Chaney, legal director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said in a statement. "South Carolina voters deserve to vote with their neighbors, and to have their votes carry the same weight. This case is about restoring representative democracy in South Carolina, and I’m hopeful that the South Carolina Supreme Court will do just that."

The new congressional districts, created after the 2020 Census, took effect on Jan. 26, 2022, when Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed S. 865 into law.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld South Carolina’s congressional maps in response to a challenge from the NAACP and a First District voter. They argued that the new districts resulted in racial gerrymanders and the dilution of Black voters’ electoral power.

A three-judge federal panel last year ruled against the state’s new map, prompting an appeal and the Supreme Court ruling, which concluded the lower court’s finding that race predominated the district’s design was "erroneous."

The lawsuit cited testimony from state leaders as support for their claims. Spokespeople for McMaster and other Palmetto State leaders did not immediately respond to a request for comment.