The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- South Carolina
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Op. S.C. Att'y Gen. (Mar. 24, 2020) (letter to Chief Mark A. Keel)
- Issued
- 2020-03-24 Mar. 24, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-03-24
- End
- n/a (advisory statement); operative while § 16-7-10 applied under the emergency (to June 6-7, 2021) (read as 2021-06-30)
- In force
- Mar. 24, 2020 to June 30, 2021
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q2
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Gathering capOther
- Addressees
- law enforcement officers; persons generally
- Character
- agency interpretation
- Collection
- Standing duties: South Carolina DUT-SC
Operative words
Section 16-7-10 is intended in part to maintain good order during extraordinary times of emergency. The unique nature of a pandemic is such that SCDHEC and epidemiologist are strongly urging against even the most orderly large gatherings. However, the enforcement of this criminal statute must yield to established constitutional limitations.
Penalty
n/a (construes the § 16-7-10 misdemeanor)
What it required
The Attorney General confirmed to the State's chief law-enforcement agency that § 16-7-10 is a criminal statute applicable during the COVID-19 emergency, that DHEC and epidemiologists were 'strongly urging against even the most orderly large gatherings,' and that its enforcement must accommodate gatherings protected by fundamental constitutional rights (religious meetings, weddings, funerals, the family unit, political assembly). Character as recorded: agency_interpretation (Attorney General opinion; order_penalty layer).
Retrieval noteScanned two-page letter without a text layer; both pages were rendered to images and read in full. The letter records that the Governor 'has stated in no uncertain terms that the restriction on activities was not intended, and should never be construed, to infringe upon any fundamental constitutional rights' and cites this Office's opinion of March 3, 1994 (1994 WL 136189) on strict scrutiny. It is cited in the Attorney General's March 29, 2020 opinion (Ex. DUT-SC-018).