JUSTICES TO STAY OUT OF BATTLE BETWEEN SANFORD, ETHICS COMMISSION, LAWMAKERS

An ethics investigation of Mark Sanford will be made public when it is completed, after the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the governor waived confidentiality in the case.

The decision will give the General Assembly, which is considering impeaching Sanford, the opportunity to review the State Ethics Commission’s findings as they make their decision.

The Ethics Commission is looking into whether or not Sanford misused state aircraft and other resources including campaign money.

The court also denied the House of Representatives request that the Ethics Commission be required to give them a copy of the report. The justices said representatives could subpoena the report’s information if they wanted to use it for impeachment purposes.

The high court’s decision came after two weeks of back-and-forth arguments between Sanford’s lawyers and the Ethics Commission.

Sanford waived his right to confidentiality in the case in August, and the court upheld the Ethics Commission’s claim that such a waiver rendered their report public information.

But Sanford’s attorneys argued that the Ethics Commission and lawmakers looking to obtain the report failed to prove he waived full confidentiality.

There is no word on how soon the Ethics Commission investigation will be complete nor how soon after that the information could be made public. The court left much of that up to the commission’s discretion.