Skip to Content

School of Law

South Carolina Law Review

The South Carolina Law Review, a student-run publication, is the oldest and principal legal publication in the Palmetto State. The Law Review is also the flagship legal publication at the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Current Issue

Issue 3, Volume 74

This note will examine the Eighth Amendment implications of South Carolina’s adoption of the firing squad as a means of execution. Readers of this Note should consider how the implementation of a firing squad as a method of execution will impact the physical and emotional experience of an inmate forced to experience it, which includes: a lack of medication as a sedative or for pain, the scientific inability to gauge the level of pain experienced from a gunshot wound, the unknown length of time from the initial gunshot wound to pronouncement of death, and the potential for a botched execution. More broadly, readers should further consider how a firing squad will affect those tasked with physically performing the procedure and how the implementation of this execution method could influence other state legislatures to introduce a similar method due to the nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs.

Read the full article from Halee Smith [pdf]

The case described in the following Section illustrates several problems with South Carolina’s current regime. Part II provides a brief background of the relevant law in the United States and identifies the primary models in use today. Part III discusses each of South Carolina’s problems in turn while highlighting the relative benefits of alternative models.

Read the full article from Mason Rajaee [pdf]

Part II of this Note starts with a background of the opioid epidemic in the United States and the epidemic’s connection to the criminal justice system. Part III identifies recent trends in federal courts, suggesting correctional facilities that fail to provide inmates access to their prescribed opioid-agonist medications are likely violating the Eighth Amendment and the ADA. Additionally, Part III argues that even inmates without prescriptions may have viable claims under the Eighth Amendment in the future. Part IV then discusses the three states that have made the most progress in providing every inmate with OUD access to MAT medications and the key aspects of each state’s program. Part V argues South Carolina’s current approach to the use of MAT medications in state and local correctional facilities is problematic.

Read the full article from Edward Mitchell [pdf]

Part II of this Note will provide information explaining state takeover, discussing how state takeovers impact education quality and achievement outcomes generally, and the major determinants of education quality. Part II will also give an overview of South Carolina’s state takeover statute. Part III will start by establishing what South Carolina’s duty regarding education is and how the state is falling short in meeting it. Then, Part III will analyze state takeover as a remedy to improve underperforming school districts. Part IV will conclude by arguing that state takeover with no clear plan to address the major determinants of education quality is an inadequate remedy.

Read the full article from Lyndsey Ebener [pdf]

Part II provides background information about the Act, a brief history of South Carolina’s shoreline stabilization efforts, and summaries of two recent beachfront erosion cases at DeBordieu Colony. Part III utilizes the DeBordieu Colony cases as a springboard to provide several recommendations for mitigating erosion issues along South Carolina’s coastline. Finally, Part IV concludes by summarizing possible suggestions for South Carolina to better address beach erosion in the coming decades.

Read the full article from Julian Hennig IV [pdf]

Certificate of Need (CON) laws have maintained a stubborn presence in the American healthcare landscape since the 1970s as a last-ditch plug against unnecessary expenditures. This Note will demonstrate that CON programs are no longer a valid instrument to achieve these goals given decades of change in both legislative and economic policy.

Read the full article from Kersey Reynolds [pdf]

Part II of this Note outlines the current NIL landscape and a minor’s capacity to contract in South Carolina. Next, Part III of this Note addresses several major issues facing minors wishing to conduct NIL activities. Part IV of this Note then discusses some ways in which the state of South Carolina can act to protect its minor-athletes, educational institutions, and businesses in NIL agreements. Ultimately, Part V of this Note concludes that South Carolina should allow high school student-athletes to enter into NIL deals but should regulate these deals to safeguard the interests of its minors, institutions, and businesses.

Read the full article from Paul Clowes [pdf]

Part II of this Note will discuss the doctrine of separation of powers generally. Part III will describe a history of retroactive passage issues across decades of caselaw in South Carolina and will show a concerningly similar pattern of activity by the general assembly and the judiciary’s response to the general assembly’s attempts to pass retroactive legislation. Part IV will analyze the Burns v. Greenville County Council decision. Finally, in Part V, this Note will briefly discuss the constitutionality of S. 233 before concluding.

Read the full article from Domenic Sciortino [pdf]

At its inception, § 5-7-145 could have enhanced beach lifeguarding and served as an effective model for protecting beach visitors. Instead, the statute facilitated the continuance of an unaccepted model of lifeguarding that resulted in the fatal drowning of three individuals. The South Carolina municipality that authorized that dual-role model continued to do so without facing repercussions after the drownings.

Read the full article from S. Quinn Mann [pdf]

View past issues >>


Contact Us

The South Carolina Law Review
1525 Senate Street | Columbia, SC 29208
sclreic@mailbox.sc.edu


Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

©