1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 116th Session, 2005-2006 3 4 S. 1096 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 Joint Resolution 9 Sponsors: Senator Ford 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\ms\7092ahb06.doc 11 Companion/Similar bill(s): 4447 12 13 Introduced in the Senate on January 31, 2006 14 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary 15 16 Summary: Supreme Court 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 1/31/2006 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-9 23 1/31/2006 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-9 24 2/2/2006 Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Moore (ch), Ford, Mescher, Rankin, Scott 25 26 27 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 28 29 1/31/2006 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A JOINT RESOLUTION 10 11 PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 2, ARTICLE V 12 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1895, 13 RELATING TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE SUPREME 14 COURT, SO AS TO INCREASE FROM FIVE TO SEVEN THE 15 NUMBER OF JUSTICES COMPRISING THE SUPREME 16 COURT ON JANUARY 1, 2009. 17 18 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 19 Carolina: 20 21 SECTION 1. It is proposed that Section 2, Article V of the 22 Constitution of this State be amended to read: 23 24 “Section 2. The On January 1, 2009, the Supreme Court shall 25 consist of a Chief Justice and four six Associate Justices, any three 26 four of whom shall constitute constitutes a quorum for the 27 transaction of business. The Chief Justice shall preside, and in his 28 absence the senior Associate Justice shall preside. In all cases 29 decided by the Supreme Court, the concurrence of three four of the 30 Justices shall be is necessary for a reversal of the judgment 31 below.” 32 33 SECTION 2. The proposed amendment must be submitted to the 34 qualified electors at the next general election for representatives. 35 Ballots must be provided at the various voting precincts with the 36 following words printed or written on the ballot: 37 38 “Must Section 2, Article V of the Constitution of this State be 39 amended so as to increase the composition of the Supreme Court 40 from five to seven justices effective on January 1, 2009? 41 42

1 [1096] 1 1 Yes  2 3 No  4 5 Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a 6 check or cross mark in the square after the word ‘Yes’, and those 7 voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or 8 cross mark in the square after the word ‘No’.” 9 ----XX---- 10

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