Supreme Court justice agrees
South Carolina Senator Tom Davis is fighting back against an anti-gambling law that forced a Hilton Head retirement community to ban games of bridge and canasta.
According to the Associated Press, last week Davis warned legislators that if the law isn’t amended, he will sue to get it thrown out altogether.
“Several hundred clubs in Sun City are outraged over this,” said the Beaufort Republican, who is also an attorney. “Their lifestyle is being affected for a completely silly reason.”
Chief Justice Jean Toal of the state Supreme Court agrees that the law is unconstitutional. It’s “hopelessly outdated, as it applies to any gaming activity including all card games played in a residential home whether wagering occurs or not,” she wrote in a 2012 opinion. “This section expired in usefulness long ago.”
If the legislation is not changed, Davis said, he will sue on behalf of his constituents’ social clubs to get the entire law declared unconstitutional.
“I want to amend it and modernize it as instructed, but one way or the other, I’m going to get some relief here,” he said. “I see it as an extension of my legislative service, getting a result for my constituency.”
