Your SC politics briefing

Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.

South Carolina federal Judge Michelle Childs will get a promotion after the US Senate confirmed her nomination to be on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The Senate voted 64-34 to send the University of South Carolina Law School graduate to what’s commonly known as the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, a prominent bench that has traditionally served as a launching pad for future Supreme Court justices.

South Carolina’s Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott voted to confirm Childs, who was nominated back in December. Her nomination was put on hold as President Joe Biden considered her for the US Supreme Court.

And former Democratic congressional candidate Adair Ford Boroughs is set to be the next US attorney in South Carolina.

The Senate approved her nomination by a voice vote to make the attorney the highest federal prosecutor in the state.

“I’m very excited to return to (the) DOJ and to work with an incredible team at the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Boroughs tweeted.

Both will have to be sworn in before they officially take on their new roles.

Rape, incest should not be in abortion ban: panel

A South Carolina House panel says it won’t recommend rape and incest exceptions for draft legislation that seeks to outlaw nearly all abortions performed in the state but will suggest lawmakers keep exceptions for the life and health of the mother.

The House panel made those recommendations in a 9-3 vote Tuesday as part of a working draft — H. 5399 — that’ll be debated in the next few weeks by the House Judiciary Committee.

We hear the full committee is aiming to meet mid-August, with the House looking to meet a few weeks after that.

Process isn’t always entertaining, but this draft has a ways to go until it’s finalized.

Rape and incest exceptions have been stripped out of abortion proposals before, only to be put back in.

We’ve heard the Senate is unlikely to approve any ban that removes those exceptions, only keeping life/health of mother.

Meanwhile, a judge in Richland County next week will consider whether to put a temporary injunction on the state’s six-week abortion ban. Greenville Women’s Clinic, Planned Parenthood South Carolina Atlantic and two physicians have sued over the law again, saying it violates a person’s constitutional right to privacy.

Attorney General Alan Wilson said the suit “not likely to succeed on the merits of their claims.”

ICYMI: With ‘sense of urgency,’ will abortion be key midterm issue for South Carolina Democrats? Read here.

Who is on Cunningham’s short list for running mate?

Similar to presidents, candidates for SC governor get to pick a lieutenant governor running mate.

This time in 2018, we already knew who they were. In Gov. Henry McMaster’s case, he’s sticking with current Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, but Democratic nominee Joe Cunningham has yet to announce who his choice is.

He’s got until Aug. 1. This week the former Lowcountry congressman released a nine-person short list.

They include current state lawmakers, a fighter pilot, a mix of people with government and private business experience.

While we don’t know who will be the person chosen — possibly state Rep. Spencer Wetmore or Jermaine Johnson, who is pictured below — we know at least one name will not be final.

Columbia City Manager Teresa Wilson said after the list’s release that she’s appreciative but is declining consideration.

Buzz Bites

▪ US Sen. Lindsey Graham will move his efforts to the Peach State to challenge a subpoena forcing him to testify in front of a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in the state’s 2020 election thrown out.

▪ US Republican House Reps. Nancy Mace and Tom Rice joined Democrats and voted to codify federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages.

▪ Former Vice President Mike Pence in South Carolina rolled out a comprehensive anti-abortion policy agenda that seeks to criminalize the practice in every state and strengthen federal adoption laws — a blueprint likely to color the 2024 election.

▪ Former SC Gov. Nikki Haley this week teased a 2024 presidential run, saying in a speech at a pro-Israel event that the next president would shred any new deal with Iran “on her first day in office. Just saying, sometimes it takes a woman.”

▪ Former House Speaker Jay Lucas will join Prisma Health as its senior vice president for government affairs starting July 25. The Darlington Republican resigned from the House early after stepping down early as speaker.

▪ The Associated Press reports that a Japanese company has announced plans for a $150 million plant to make copper foil for electric vehicle batteries in Augusta, instead of where it announced previously in Camden.

▪ Nancy Mace raised roughly $3.7 million to protect her US House seat against Katie Arrington, the Post and Courier reported.

▪ City of Columbia Councilwoman Aditi Bussells was appointed to the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund Board by Gov. Henry McMaster.

▪ Two women are suing Brookfield Properties and Andy Frain Services for $20 million for negligence during the Columbiana Centre Easter weekend shooting.

▪ Midlands-area attorney, state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, disclosed in a Lexington County courtroom that he was secretly recorded by a witness and the State Law Enforcement Division in the Valentine’s Day murder case involving Greg Leon. The trial has been pushed to January. It was previously scheduled for August.

Mark your calendar

July 26

Judge to hear arguments in Richland County court over SC’s six-week abortion law

July 29

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy will headline the SC GOP’s Silver Elephant dinner

July 30

South Carolina Republican Party Convention in Columbia

Aug. 1

Deadline for governor’s race nominees to notify parties of their lieutenant governor running mate

Before we adjourn

The federal grand jury has released its first, but not expected to be its last, indictment in the Murdaugh saga.

This week a federal grand jury indicted former Hampton banker Russell Laffitte on various counts of bank and wire fraud in connection with alleged schemes by disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh to misappropriate millions of dollars supposedly under bank supervision.

The indictment, issued by a federal grand jury in Columbia, alleges a longstanding conspiracy between an unidentified “bank customer,” whom sources identified as Murdaugh, and Laffitte to use the Palmetto State Bank in Hampton County bank as a tool for laundering money that Murdaugh stole.

The indictment was made public hours after a judge denied Murdaugh bond in the double slaying of his wife Maggie and son Paul in June 2021. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty.

This week it was Maayan Schechter (My-yahn Schek-ter), senior editor of the The State’s politics and state government team.

You can keep up with her on Twitter and send her tips on Twitter at @MaayanSchechter or by email mschechter@thestate.com. To stay on top of South Carolina politics and election news, you can chat with us on Facebook, email us tips and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.