A panel of federal judges has made a ruling on Thursday, stating that South Carolina has the authority to utilize its existing congressional map. This decision comes as a result of the Supreme Court’s delay in ruling on the map’s constitutionality prior to the upcoming fall election.
Last year, a three-judge panel concluded that the state’s congressional map likely violated the constitution by intentionally excluding 30,000 Black voters from District 1. This district is currently represented by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace.
In October, the Supreme Court heard the case of the state NAACP’s lawsuit, which argued that the action was unconstitutionally discriminatory.
Despite the urgency expressed by both parties involved, the Supreme Court has not yet issued a ruling on the case. Both sides had requested a prompt decision from the court to ensure that a new map could be implemented before this year’s elections. However, with the deadline to send military and overseas absentee ballots for the June 11 congressional primaries approaching on April 27, time is running out for a resolution.
The state legislature recently requested the original three-judge panel to allow them to retain the current map due to time constraints.
According to the panel’s consensus, making changes to the map this year would be “plainly impractical” despite the likely unconstitutionality of it.
The ruling stated that with the primary election procedures approaching swiftly, the pending appeal before the Supreme Court, and no remedial plan in place, the ideal must give way to the practical.
Legislators have filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, seeking permission to utilize the previous map.
The Supreme Court will be making a decision on the original appeal by the end of June. This means that we will have to wait until the 2026 congressional elections for a new congressional map.
