Jane Doe v. State of South Carolina
South Carolina Supreme Court
2017 WL 3165132 (2017)
- Written by Mary Katherine Cunningham, JD
Facts
Jane Doe was in a same-sex relationship with her former partner and was the victim of a domestic-violence incident. Jane Doe filed for an order of protection, but the family court denied her request, finding Jane Doe was not entitled to protection under the Protection from Criminal Domestic Violence Act as an individual in a same-sex relationship. The South Carolina Supreme Court heard the case as a matter of original jurisdiction. S.C. Code Ann. Section 16-25-10(3)(d) defined household members as a “male and female who are cohabiting or formerly have cohabited.” The statute offered remedies for victims of domestic violence but restricted the remedies to household members in a heterosexual relationship. Jane Doe (plaintiff) challenged the domestic-violence statute, arguing that this classification unconstitutionally excluded same-sex couples from the protection of the statute. Jane Doe asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to declare the subsections excluding same-sex couples unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pleicones, J.)
Concurrence/Dissent (Beatty, J.)
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