South Carolina Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in South Carolina, with full citations and the original source on every page.
No South Carolina opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Can South Carolina's Board of Paroles and Pardons grant a pardon for a crime that has already been expunged, what counts as a quorum, and when does a social gathering of board members trigger the open-meetings law?
An expunged conviction can still be pardoned. The seven-member board needs four members for a quorum; three-member panels can decide most parole matters but probably not pardon applications. A purely …
If a member of a South Carolina town planning commission resigns, can the remaining members still meet and vote, or must business halt until a replacement is appointed?
Yes. A South Carolina planning commission lawfully formed with five members may keep meeting and voting with three members present (a simple majority). The resigning member is also treated as continui…
Can a city council get legal advice outside a public meeting and bind future councils to a city attorney's term?
On the open-meetings question, yes; on binding future councils, no. The Attorney General concluded the Freedom of Information Act does not restrict a city council or its members to requesting legal ad…
Can a school board close a school by quietly defunding it in the budget?
Maybe not without proper notice. The Attorney General agreed a board of education has authority to close and consolidate schools, but flagged a real FOIA problem with how the Berkeley County board did…
Does announcing a vague 'employment matter' satisfy South Carolina's FOIA before a public body goes into executive session?
Probably not. The AG cannot decide whether a specific meeting broke the law, but based on prior opinions and South Carolina court decisions it concluded a court would likely find that announcing only …
If a South Carolina school board posts several documents called an agenda, which one counts as the legal public-meeting agenda?
The document's title is not controlling. The AG said a court would likely identify the agenda by asking which list of items was publicly posted at least 24 hours before the meeting and whether the boa…
Browse South Carolina opinions by topic
Attorney general opinions in South Carolina are written by the South Carolina Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.