NO DECISION TODAY, JULY 6

The South Carolina Supreme Court issued one decision today on a matter other than the church case, Smith v. D.R. Horton, Inc. Today's ruling, however, is interesting to note. First of all the court heard the oral arguments in this case on March 3, 2015. That means a 15 month gap between hearing and written decision. At that rate, the Episcopal Church case will see a written decision in December of 2016, five months from now.

Another possibly significant sign in today's decision is the court split. Former Chief Justice Toal wrote the majority opinion and was joined by justices Beatty and Hearn. Justices Kittredge and Pleicones dissented and Kittredge wrote a dissenting opinion that was twice as long as Toal's majority opinion. Remember that these were the same five justices who heard the Church case on September 23, 2015, and will issue written opinion(s) at some point.

I still imagine that we are in for a long wait on a written decision in the church case. But then, nobody knows.

See today's written decision here .