South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has lost his bid to reject more than $700 million in federal stimulus funds. In a ruling handed down shortly after 3 p.m. this afternoon, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that the duty to execute the state budget, as properly enacted by the state’s General assembly, is a ministerial duty of the governor, and as such, “he has no discretion concerning the appropriation of funds.”
The ruling appears to put to rest a long running battle between Sanford, head of the Republican Governors Conference and a possible contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, and the Republican-controlled state legislation over the acceptance and use of the funds, which are intended to support educational and public safety programs. The legislature included the funding, part of more than $2.8 billion in stimulus funds that are available to South Carolina over the next two years, in its budget for the next fiscal year. But Sanford said as governor only he had authority to request the $700 million and refused to do so unless the legislature committed an equal amount to paying down the state’s budget deficit. Although a number of Republican governors had stated that they would reject the funds being offered by the Obama Administration, Sanford was the only one to challenge acceptance of the funds in court. The petitioners in Edwards and Williams v. The State of South Carolina and Mark Sanford sought declaratory relief from the court under that §1607(b) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, that would allow the General Assembly to request, accept, and distribute the funds. A second lawsuit, filed by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, asked the court to issue a writ of mandamus to compel Governor Sanford to promptly submit the §14005 “application” and take all legal and necessary steps to effectuate the State’s receipt of the funds. In rendering its decision to compel the governor to accept the funds, the four justices who heard the case only yesterday said they recognized and respected the governor’s “Sincerely held beliefs concerning the [American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.] However, they said, “those convictions do not alter the ministerial nature of the legal duty now before him.” They went on to note that the application for the stimulus funds “is a simple, definite duty arising under the conditions specified in the ARRA and leaves nothing to Governor Sanford’s discretion. “ Because the General Assembly, following Governor Sanford’s certification and request that the ARRA ‘funds be released,’ included the[stimulus] funds in the Budget and by virtue of its concurrent resolution, the clear intent is the State of South Carolina desires the[stimulus] funds, and Governor Sanford must ask for the funds,” the court said. The court emphasized that “the decision on a request to mandamus the Governor is an extremely delicate one, which is undertaken with great reluctance and consciousness of its great gravity and importance. “ The justices concluded by stating that their decision “should not be construed as a comment on the policy differences between Governor Sanford and the General Assembly respecting the wisdom or necessity of South Carolina accepting the [stimulus] funds. “Under our limited role, the matter is presented to us as one of statutory construction of the ARRA and the application of settled state separation of powers principles. We discharge our duty to honor the rule of law, nothing more,” the court said. Gov. Sanford has scheduled a press conference for 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the decision.