With the recent events that occurred at the State House during the Judicial Elections one major question arose: Who defends the State Constitution when our legislators violate it?
4 State House Representatives walked out of the “scam” election on February 5th, 2020, the Judicial Election by the General Assembly violating Articles of the State Constitution concerning the process of voting for the nominated Judges.
Since then many people have been asking who is suppose to go after Legislators who violate the State Constitution? Well the answer to that is the Attorney General, and in this case, that is Alan Wilson.
Before we continue let us look at Mr. Wilson. He is the adopted son of Joe Wilson, who currently serves as the U.S. Representative for South Carolina’s 2nd congressional district. Wilson graduated from Francis Marion University with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1996, and received a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2002.
In 2013, Wilson self-reported that his campaign failed to report 84 contributions and expenditures. A further investigation showed that his campaign failed to report at least 68 contributions and 16 unreported expenditures. But as he self-reported these errors, he faced no penalties.
In 2012 Wilson jumped the gun and stated to Fox News that over 900 deceased individuals had voted after their deaths. After an investigation by the Washington Post it was determined that Wilson hyped these charges up into facts before any real investigation had been done. Wilson’s Office held up this report that stated not a single fact was true that he had so loudly stated on Fox News.
Wilson is also against the legalization of Medical-Marijuana as he puts it “the most dangerous drug” because it is the most misunderstood drug in the United States.
State attorneys general enforce both state and federal laws. Because they are sworn to uphold the United States‘ constitution and laws as well as the state’s, they often decline to defend the state in federal lawsuits.
Wilson, swore to uphold both the U.S. and State Constitutions when he took office, so now we will see if he holds his oath to do so. The Attorney General’s office has prosecuted past Legislators for many criminal charges. But will Alan Wilson uphold the State Constitution on the matters of Legislators violating it?
Let’s not forget that a large part of the General Assembly are also Attorney’s. Will the Attorney General’s office hold these Lawyer/Politicians accountable for their violations of Articles of the South Carolina Constitution and misuse of the trust the Citizens of South Carolina have put in them.