South Carolina Supreme Court Orders Governor to Apply for Stimulus Money

As expected, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled today that Gov. Mark Sanford must apply for $700-million in federal stimulus money for the state’s public schools and higher education.

In a unanimous opinion, the court’s five justices said the state’s Legislature had the authority to order the governor to ask for that money, which is a portion of the nearly $40-billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund in President Obama’s $787-billion stimulus package.

The court also issued a rare writ of mandamus that requires the governor to apply for the money, according to The State, a newspaper in Columbia, S.C. The U.S. Department of Education has set a July 1 deadline for those applications and has approved the money for 23 states so far.

Governor Sanford, a Republican, had refused to apply for the money unless the Legislature paid off an equal amount of state debt. He also has said he would not contest the court’s decision. —Eric Kelderman