Legal Update: SC Supreme Court Sets Date for Hearing

Yesterday afternoon, the South Carolina Supreme Court announced a hearing date of Wednesday, December 8, at 9:30 a.m. concerning the appeal filed by our diocese and The Episcopal Church in regard to the June 19,2020, order by Judge Edgar Dickson that is contrary to the Supreme Court final judgement from August 2017. In that 2017 ruling, a 3-2 majority of the South Carolina Supreme Court reversed, at least in part, the declaratory judgement of the lower court, deciding that diocesan property and 29 parishes should be returned to the parties affiliated with The Episcopal Church. The Dickson Order, however, essentially reinstated much of the lower court ruling that had been reversed by the high court. 

“We are pleased that the South Carolina Supreme Court has set a date for this hearing and we look forward to the opportunity to present our appeal,” said Thomas S. Tisdale, Jr., Chancellor of The Diocese of South Carolina.

Bishop-elect Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, who will be consecrated as the fifteenth bishop of our historic Diocese of South Carolina on October 2, offered her complete support in a statement to the diocese: “As your new bishop, know that I stand with and for the people of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina in expecting the South Carolina Supreme Court to uphold its decision from August 2017,” said Woodliff-Stanley. “I am grateful for the courage and resiliency of our people and communities, many of whom are displaced from their sacred spaces.  Know that I will do everything in my power to further the continued strength and health of our beloved communities across the diocese, confident in the power of the resurrection.”

Attorneys for our diocese and The Episcopal Church previously argued in briefs filed with high court regarding this appeal that the 2017 ruling of the South Carolina Supreme Court which 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 March 2021 brief, “The citizens of South Carolina rely on the finality of this Court’s decision.”

In the initial appellate brief filed in November 2020, our diocesan attorneys noted it was clear from the August 2017 final judgement of the South Carolina Supreme Court that the Supreme Court Justices, as well as the opposing side, referred to the opinion of the Court as a “majority opinion” and confirmed that this opinion “reversed” at least in part, the previous decision of the lower court under Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein. The Brief further noted that: “By ruling in favor of Respondents [the disassociated diocese] the Dickson Order issued a declaratory judgment that largely duplicated that of the now-reversed Goodstein Order.”

​More details will be shared as it becomes available.