‘Rankin Rule’ Adopted By South Carolina Senate

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Earlier this year, our media outlet reported on efforts by a group of South Carolina senators to oust the chamber’s judiciary chairman, Luke Rankin, from his powerful post.

Rankin, a “former” Democrat from Horry County, has held the chairmanship of the judiciary committee since late 2016. He has also wielded disproportionate influence at the S.C. State House given his leadership role on the scandal-scarred Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC) – a secretive panel dominated by lawyer-legislators which controversially chooses the Palmetto State’s judges.

As I reported back in July, several of Rankin’s colleagues had grown “frustrated in recent years with the slow pace” of his panel – including his alleged tendency to “sit” on bills. In fact, FITSNews reported on some of these very issues during the 2023-2024 legislative session – including Rankin stalling for months on the issue of judicial selection reform.

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For months, a group of senators worked on a way to remove Rankin by amending the rules of the chamber.

According to Senate rule 19(e), “the senior member of the committee from the majority party, in terms of seniority within the committee, shall be the chairman” of that committee. The rules further state that senators who switch parties do not forfeit their committee assignments – nor do they lose their seniority status – so long as “a majority of the caucus to which the member switches” consents.

A longtime Democrat, Rankin switched to the GOP during the 2004 election.

Rankin will retain his chairmanship heading into 2025 because lawmakers did not want to upset their seniority status – which could have had serious implications on other committees. However, the rules of the chamber were amended on Wednesday (December 4, 2024) so as to make the removal of a committee chairman much easier.

According to S. 1 – the first resolution of the upcoming 2025-2026 legislative session – existing rules regarding seniority still apply, but Rankin (or any chairman, for that matter) could be removed by a simple majority vote of the Senate.

Take a look at this language…

A Resolution introduced by the President AND the Majority Leader to remove the Chairman of a Standing Committee shall be referred to the Rules Committee; and when such Resolution is received by the Senate to be placed on the calendar, it shall be placed in the masthead position and after not more than four hours of debate, two (2) hours for and two (2) hours against, it shall be decided by a majority of the members present and voting.

–S. 1 (adopted December 4, 2024)

In other words, if Senate president Thomas Alexander and majority leader Shane Massey decide to call a vote on Rankin’s status as chairman, they would need to muster only a simple majority of 24 total votes to oust him. That’s significant considering Rankin lost several key allies (most of them Democrats) during the recent election cycle.

Translation? The 62-year-old lawyer-legislator suddenly finds himself on a very short leash…

“The gun is loaded and pointed at his head,” a source familiar with the adoption of the amendment told FITSNews. “He has no margin for error. He’s lucky it only went this far.”

That certainly seems to be accurate. Alexander was already very frustrated with the liberal “Republican” – which is why he created a special panel earlier this year to get the ball rolling on critical energy issues rather than let them continue to wallow in Rankin’s committee. Meanwhile, Massey – who led that special panel – is also said to be substantially less-than-enthralled with Rankin at the moment given the left-of-center lawmaker’s repeated efforts to subvert and sabotage conservative legislative priorities.

Will Rankin push his luck? And, if he does, will Alexander and Massey have the stones to move for his ouster?

Stay tuned… lawmakers reconvene in Columbia, S.C. on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.

_{^{BANNER: Travis Bell Columbia SC Photographers}}

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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