Diocese Files Appellant Reply Brief With the SC Supreme Court

On Thursday, March 4, attorneys for the Diocese of South Carolina (also known as The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC)) and The Episcopal Church filed an Initial Reply Brief of Appellants with the South Carolina Supreme Court. The brief was filed in response to the brief filed by the opposing side on February 12, 2021, which was filed as a reply to the diocese’s Initial Brief of Appellants filed November 12, 2020. All briefs relate to the June 19, 2020 Order by South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Edgar Dickson. That Order is contrary to the Supreme Court final judgement from August 2017 which ruled that diocesan property and 29 parishes should be returned to the parties affiliated with The Episcopal Church.

In the March 4 brief, the national church and the historic diocese dispute the claims made by the opposing side (“Respondents”), noting that the disassociated diocese continues an “effort to have a differently comprised panel of this Court [the South Carolina Supreme Court] relitigate the trial and prior appeal of the case.” The brief further notes that “there is no legal basis or authority for this Court to ignore its previous decision and to reconsider this matter anew, just as there was no legal basis or authority for the Circuit Court to do so.”

The 15-page brief clearly argues the law of the case in support of the arguments of the historic Diocese of South Carolina (TECSC) that the 2017 ruling of the South Carolina Supreme Court that reversed the decision of the lower court cannot and should not be overturned by the actions of a lower court judge who was charged with enforcing the Supreme Court’s judgment. As noted in the brief, “The citizens of South Carolina rely on the finality of this Court’s decision.”

Now that the final briefs have been submitted, attorneys for both sides will await a final decision from the South Carolina Supreme Court, which likely will be preceded by a hearing. It is unknown as to the timing of the next steps in this case.