Powell v. Keel

KING GRANT-DAVIS, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. ALAN WILSON, South Carolina Attorney General; MARK KEEL, Chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, MERRICK B. GARLAND, United States Attorney General, MARCIA L. FUDGE, United States Secretary of Department of Housing and Urban Development, Defendants Appellees. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 29298 No. 21-2157

November 3, 2023, Decided September 21, 2023, Submitte

in Powell v. Keel, the Supreme Court of South Carolina held that "SORA's lifetime registration requirement is unconstitutional absent any opportunity for judicial review to assess the risk of re-offending." 433 S.C. 457,860 5.6.2d 344, 352 (SC. 2021). The court, however, "reserve(d) the effective date of this opinion for twelve (12) months from the date of filing to allow the General Assembly to correct the deficiency in the statute regarding judicial review." Id. Because Grant-Davis raised a similar challenge to SORA, we placed his appeal in abeyance for the effective date of Powell or until the South Carolina General Assembly amended SORA consistent with Powell.

The South Carolina General Assembly acted after Powell, and SORA now provides that a sex offender may apply to be removed from the registry and outlines a process of judicial review if that application is denied. See S.C. Code Ann, 23-3-462 to 463 Because the South Carolina General Assembly has remedied the constitutional defect in SORA identified in Powell, we conclude(2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 3) that this issue is moot. See Cela v. Garland, 75 F.4th 355, 360 (4th Cir. 2023) ("A case becomes moot when it is impossible for a court to grant any effectual relief to the prevailing party." (internal quotation marks omitted)): Eden, LLC v. Justice, 36 F.4th 166, 170 (4th Cir. 2022) ("(A) case may become moot after entry of a district court's judgment and while an appeal is pending."). We therefore dismiss for lack of jurisdiction Grant-Davis' appeal of the district court's dismissal of this portion of Count 4. See Cela, 75 F.4th at 360.