By james art 
Columbia – in a New Legal Filling, The League of Women Voters of South Carolina – Represeed by the Aclu of South Carolina and the Aclu – Urges the State Court to Uphold South and to Reject Politicians’ Dangous And non -American arguments that they should be allowed to set elections without complying with the Constitution.
“Legislators cannot be provided free of charge to cheat voters from representative democracy,” said Alan Cheney, Law Director of the American Union for South Carolina Civil LibertiesS “I hope the court will face this unconstitutional power of the General Assembly.”
“Southern Carolini deserve the right to choose their representatives, not the other way around,” said Lynn Teig, Vice President on issues and actions of the League of Women’s voters of South CarolinaS “The fairly redistribution standards protect the right of citizens to be truly represented in our democracy. The League of Women’s voters of South Carolina remains committed to ensuring that all Southern Carolini have heard their voice.”
“Politicians use guerrilla Gerimander to silence voters, not to win their support,” said ACLU lawyer senior officials Teresa J. LeeS “He undermines the fair representation, weakens the power of color communities and erodes public confidence in our electoral system. Every voter deserves an equal voice – the areas must be attracted to serve people, not politicians. “
League’s response on January 24, short restrictions on written arguments in the voting right The League of Women’s voters of South Carolina vs. AlexanderS Originally filed on July 29, 2024, the case asked the Supreme Court of the State to terminate the practice of the guerrilla Gerimander and to throw the plan to redistribute the congress of South Carolina in 2022 as unconstitutional. The oral argument is not scheduled in the case.
After the 2020 census, state legislators were tasked with redirecting the seven Congress cards in South Carolina. In the process, they manipulated the regional lines to create an artificial Republican advantage in the first congress district, a coastal area, traditionally anchored in Charleston. This is known as the guerrilla Gerimander, which is unconstitutional under the State Constitution. The legislators boasted about the guerrilla Germander in court, showed no remorse for their actions, and now require complete immunity for their actions.
There are no excuses
The case was built on the guarantees of the Constitution of South Carolina. Moreover, Article 1, Section 5 shall be indicated:
All elections will be free and openand every resident of this country possessing the qualification provided in this constitution must have equal right to choose officers and to be chosen to fill the public position.
The brief of the League points to five states, in which citizens challenge the practice of guerrilla Germander based on their state constitutions: Alaska, Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Utah. In all five cases, the highest courts of countries have set standards for evaluation of the guerrilla Germander.
The new submission indicates ways in which the defense of the Constitutional elections in South Carolina is stronger than those of the US Constitution and even stronger than in some of these five sister countries. Equal right to SelectAs the submission states, it guarantees more than the right of VoteS
The new submission also takes time to demolish fraudulent claims and apologies from politicians who seek to support guerrilla Gerimander. Governor Henry McMaster, for example, complains about his submission that guerrilla Gerimandring is a long -standing “political reality”.
“[T]He has actually been that the constitutional violation has been going on for years, decades or centuries without legal compensation hardly released it, “ACLU said in the short answer. “The courts often take revenge on constitutional rights after a long -standing, continuous violation of these rights.”
Background
The US Civil Freedom Union, ACLU of South Carolina and Duffy & Young LLC filed the case on July 29, 2024. On behalf of the plaintiff, the South Carolina Women’s League Voter League. The defendants are president of the State Senate, Chairman of the State House and the Director of the State Election Committee. Governor Henry McMaster chose to intervene and file his own answer in defense of the guerrilla Gerimander.
The facts of the case are not questionable. In the course of the process of redistribution and again in court during a previous case challenging the racial Gerimander, they swore that they arranged the map to lock themselves in the Republican majority in the state in the state delegation of Congress.
“The Panel acknowledged that the General Assembly pursued a political goal of increasing the republican share of the votes of District 1. He achieved this goal by moving Republicans to the district and democrats outside the area,” said John Gore, a lawyer representing the laws of South Carolina, At the beginning of his oral dispute before the US Supreme Court in Alexander vs SC NaacpS
While reminding the court of this filing, the General Assembly is the “simple creature” of the State Constitution. If our ruling elites oppose “free and open elections” and seek to deny “equal right to choose officers”, they must put this request in writing and ask the people of South Carolina to amend our constitution.
For more information on this current case, see our page for cases for League of Women voters from South Carolina against Alexander.