South Carolina’s post-2020 congressional map moved through the usual legislative path and was quickly engaged in litigation. The General Assembly passed S. 865, and Governor Henry McMaster signed it on January 26, 2022 (Act 118), establishing seven congressional districts for use beginning with the 2022 election. Civil-rights groups immediately challenged the plan in Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, alleging that District 1 was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. A three-judge federal panel agreed on January 6, 2023, ordering lawmakers to redraw the district. The state appealed, and the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in October 2023. While the case was pending, the lower court allowed the 2022 map to stay in place for 2024 to avoid election calendar disruptions. On May 23, 2024, the Supreme Court reversed the district court’s racial-gerrymandering ruling for District 1 and remanded the case for consideration of the plaintiffs’ remaining intentional-vote-dilution claim. The challengers voluntarily dismissed that last claim on July 26, 2024, and five days later, on August 1, 2024, the three-judge district court entered an order dismissing the case and closing the docket.

For the state legislature, South Carolina enacted its first set of maps on December 10, 2021 (Act 117 for both House and Senate). The Senate plan drew no further challenge, but plaintiffs in Alexander also contested several House districts. Those claims were resolved by settlement: lawmakers passed S. 1024, and McMaster signed the resulting Act 226 on June 17, 2022, creating a remedial House map that added additional districts in which Black voters can elect candidates of their choice. The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office now lists the Act 226 lines as “effective for the 2024 election,” and no lawsuits have been filed against the updated plan. Thus, the Senate districts adopted in 2021 and the amended House districts enacted in 2022 govern state elections through the remainder of the decade.