South Carolina Governor Calls Special Session on Redistricting, Budget

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on May 14 issued an executive order calling on lawmakers to convene for a special session beginning the next day. “I have issued an Executive Order calling the General Assembly back for an extra legislative session to address the state budget and congressional districts beginning Friday, May 15, at 11:00 AM,” McMaster said. The state General Assembly previously had begun debate on South Carolina’s congressional districts in response to the Supreme Court’s narrowing of the Voting Rights Act in the case Louisiana v. Callais, but that session concluded before debate had finished. That April 29 decision by the Supreme Court determined that race may be only a minor factor in redistricting rationales, not the predominant, overriding reason for how congressional district lines are drawn....