South Carolina is known for its quirkiness. There are still no hate crime laws here even after the Emanuel AME shooting. There is a law on the books that says you can still legally beat your wife down the courthouse steps on Sunday, so that may be an explanation to our record-high domestic violence. Then, another thing that is kind of weird is we can have a Senator that is 25 years old but not a Lt. Governor. However, a Lieutenant Governor acts as a Senator anyways if the Senate votes are tied.
Hence, this is a bit of faulty reasoning. Additionally, you can be the person in the line of succession of a Lieutenant Governor as Senate Pro Temp and be younger than 30. So, what happens when there’s a vacancy in the Lt. Governor’s office? Would the person that is younger than 30 be able to succeed?
This is an important subject.
Moreover, there could be hypotheticals when most of the Senators are seriously ill after being exposed to a virus or the victims of a terrorist attack and they’re unable to serve. Therefore, a senator that is younger than 30 would possibly have to lead the senate. The Lt. Governor-Senator position is critical to the functioning of our state government. The line of succession does not overrule the law set forth in the state constitution for the qualifications of a Lt. Governor. The Lt. Governor and Governor have to be state citizens, 30 years of age, and believe in a higher being.
Before 1996 people that were atheists like comedian Aziz Ansari could not be a governor in SC. In Silverman v. Campbell the state Supreme Court in SC decided that the “Supreme Being” clause was unenforceable. Mike Laughlin was allowed to serve in the SC Senate at age 24 when he was elected in 1969 and Bryan Dorn set the precedent on that in 1941 when he was age 24 too. To overcome the constitutional hurdles the SC Senate made a special vote to make Dorn eligible.
There is no constitutional obligation for a senator to fill the vacancy of Lt. Governor. The post has been unoccupied several times in state history. It is seen as unappealing to many Senators because of its nominal powers. There are a few amendments that are detoured to keep the state operating sufficiently.
The SC General Assembly can form resolutions in their lawmaking capacities. So, if there becomes a dilemma about the qualifications for one of the constitutional offices the legislators will be able to ensure that we have a credentialed citizen serving us. Our elected officials will help the inconsistencies of the law meet the wishes of the people.
Jordan Thomas Cooper is a 2015 graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in History and a 2010 graduate of the RealEstate School of Success in Irmo. He is the first African-American to serve in both the governor and lieutenant governor’s office as an aide and first to serve in the Inspector General’s Office in S.C. (Haley) He is also the first person to serve in the top three offices in the gubernatorial line of succession in South Carolina (Haley, Bauer, McConnell). He says research shows he is the second black presidential campaign speechwriter in American history and the first for a GOP presidential campaign (Bush 2015). He also played football for Coach Steve Spurrier.
Graphic by Darwinek [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons