Lancaster County Bar Ass'n v. South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense

We granted petitioner Lancaster County Bar Association’s (Lancaster Bar) request to hear this petition for mandamus and for injunction in our original jurisdiction. At issue is whether respondent’s (Indigent Defense) construction of S.C.Code Ann. § 17-3-510(A) (Supp.2007), which determines the membership of each circuit’s Circuit Public Defender Selection Panel, is correct. We find that it is, and deny Lancaster Bar’s request for relief.

FACTS

The Sixth Judicial Circuit is composed of three counties: Chester, Fairfield, and Lancaster, and its Circuit Public Defender Selection Panel will have…