Your SC politics briefing

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

Just a few weeks after South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban was allowed to take effect in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, the law is again under challenge.

Planned Parenthood on Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to block the ban, which it argues violates the state constitutional rights to privacy and equal protection.

“We are once again seeking to block this harmful law that cruelly denies South Carolinians the power to make their own personal medical decisions,” Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement.

The reproductive rights group previously sued over the ban last year on the day Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law. A U.S. District Court judge blocked the law on its second day in effect and that ruling was upheld this year in federal appeals court.

The injunction lasted until late last month, when McMaster filed an emergency motion to reinstate the ban following the Supreme Court’s decision on the Dobbs case, which overturned Roe.

The governor told reporters Wednesday that South Carolina would defend the law.

“I think it’s a good law,” McMaster said moments after the lawsuit was filed. “There is the word ‘privacy.’ The right to privacy is in our state constitution, unlike the federal constitution. The question is, what does that mean?”

Planned Parenthood’s latest legal challenge comes as South Carolina lawmakers move forward with drafting an even more stringent abortion ban.

A House panel took public testimony on a proposed bill last week and will meet again Tuesday, when members of the panel will have a chance to discuss their positions and answer questions about the bill, Chairman John McCravy, R-Greenwood, said.

There will be no public testimony Tuesday, but written testimony will be accepted.

McCravy said his goal is to provide recommendations to the House Judiciary Committee, which will draft legislation to be debated on the House floor.

GRAHAM TO FIGHT GEORGIA GRAND JURY SUBPOENA

US Sen. Lindsey Graham this week said he never suggested anybody discount ballots in the 2020 presidential election and reiterated his plan to challenge a subpoena ordering him to testify in front of a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in the state’s 2020 election.

Graham is asking a federal court in South Carolina to throw out a subpoena ordering the Republican to testify.

A judge on Wednesday issued a stay on the subpoena with a hearing scheduled for next week in Greenville.

If Graham’s challenge is unsuccessful, he’ll have to testify Aug. 2 about at least two post-election phone calls he had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he reportedly asked Raffensberger about getting a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump, who lost the state by fewer than 12,000 votes.

While speaking to FoxNews Radio Tuesday, Graham said he also spoke to Arizona and Nevada officials about their election systems and procedures.

“I‘ve never suggested to anybody they discount ballots for any political reasons,” he said. “If we open up county prosecutors being able to call every member of the Senate based on some investigation they think is good for the country we’ll ruin the place.”

ALEX MURDAUGH INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGES

More than 13 months after the mysterious shooting deaths of his wife and son at their rural Colleton County estate, disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh has been implicated in the killings.

Murdaugh, a fourth-generation member of a proud and wealthy South Carolina legal dynasty, was indicted Thursday by a Colleton County grand jury on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

A bond hearing for the once-esteemed lawyer is scheduled for Wednesday at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro. He’s been in custody at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County since late last year, unable to post a $7 million bond on a slew of financial charges.

The murder indictments allege Murdaugh fatally shot his wife, Maggie, with a rifle and his 22-year-old son, Paul, with a shotgun on June 7, 2021, but don’t provide any motive or further details about the slayings.

They represent a stunning fall from grace for the prominent Hampton attorney, whose family name has for years been synonymous with power, wealth and prestige throughout the southeastern part of the state’s Lowcountry.

“People were expecting the indictments, but that doesn’t make this any less shocking,” said Michael DeWitt, the longtime editor of the Hampton Guardian newspaper, who is working on a book about the Murdaughs and the murders. “It’s hard to imagine somebody murdering their wife and especially their own child.”

Murdaugh, in a statement released by his attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, denied the killings.

“Alex wants his family, friends and everyone to know that he did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul,” the statement reads. “He loved them more than anything in the world.”

Harpootlian, a Democratic state senator from Columbia, and Griffin said Thursday they would immediately file a motion for a speedy trial.

In addition to the murder indictments, Murdaugh faces dozens of fraud and money laundering charges, as well as 10 civil lawsuits that together allege he stole nearly $8.5 million from his firm, clients and associates in various financial schemes.

BUZZ BITES

▪ The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination of Adair Ford Boroughs for South Carolina’s next US attorney this week. She’ll have to be confirmed by the full Senate, which also is expected to soon confirm Judge Michelle Childs for the DC Circuit.

▪ Gov. Henry McMaster not only holds a fundraising lead over Democratic challenger Joe Cunningham, but the Republican incumbent has a nearly 10-to-1 cash on hand advantage.

▪ Ken Loveless, vice chair of the Chapin-Irmo school board, faces four charges brought by ethics investigators, according to documents released by the Ethics Commission. Meanwhile, the attorney for the same school board has resigned, citing her disagreement with how the embattled school district’s board operates and how she feels it has made decisions without consulting her.

▪ McMaster flew to Florida on June 23 to participate in an event hosted by potential 2024 presidential hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“I think anybody who wants to (run) ought to weigh the pros and cons and make their decision. I think a lot of people would like to run,” McMaster said.

▪ Former Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood was sentenced Monday to nearly four years in federal prison on corruption charges.

▪ The Post and Courier reports that the union representing dockworkers at the Port of Charleston has asked President Joe Biden to avoid getting involved in a labor dispute at the Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston.

▪ Republican state superintendent nominee Ellen Weaver continues to smash fundraising records in her bid to become South Carolina’s next schools chief. As of June 30, Weaver had raised more than 8 times what her Democratic opponent Lisa Ellis had brought in, according to campaign finance reports.

▪ Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is eyeing a possible 2024 Republican presidential run, will be back in South Carolina later this month to address the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling at a Florence Baptist church.

▪ A marble statue of Sumter County native Mary McLeod Bethune, a trailblazing educator and civil rights activist, was installed Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall collection, the first time a Black person has been so honored.

▪A Hanahan couple who believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen and smoked a joint inside the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021, were each sentenced to prison Tuesday.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

July 19

SC House panel drafting anti-abortion language will meet at noon

July 20

A judge will hear US Sen. Lindsey Graham arguments to throw out Georgia subpoena

Alex Murdaugh bond hearing on murder, weapons possession indictments in Walterboro

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

We’re going to end on some happy news.

This week, Gov. McMaster and his wife Peggy announced the birth of their first grandson, James Dargan Herskovitz. Baby James, who was born June 27, is the son of McMaster’s daughter Mary Rogers and son-in-law Samuel Herskovitz.

“Little James Dargan is so small, we’re very eager to watch him grow up,” McMaster said, adding his son and daughter-in-law are also expecting a child.

The governor said he and the first lady plan to spoil their grandchildren.

“Anybody got some children or experts in spoiling let us know because we’re ready to do all we can,” McMaster said.

Who pulled together this week’s newsletter?

This week it was reporter Zak Koeske, a member of The State’s government and politics team. Keep up with him on Twitter @ZakKoeske or send him story tips at zkoeske@thestate.com.

Make sure to sign up for our weekly politics newsletter that will come straight to your inbox every Friday morning. Tell your friends to do the same. For even more South Carolina-focused political news, you can chat with us on Facebook at the Buzz on South Carolina Politics, email us tips at thebuzz [at] thestate [dot] com and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.