Could underage drinking be legal?
An Aiken County judge has ruled state laws prohibiting 18-to-20-year-olds from possessing alcohol are unconstitutional, but that doesn't mean laws will be changing.
The ruling by Magistrate Court Judge Rodger E. Edmonds said that the state Constitution only allows the state Legislature to prohibit people 18 to 20 from purchasing alcohol - not from possessing or consuming it.
The ruling comes in a case involving 19-year-old Jesse Lawrence Gottlieb, who came before Edmonds on speeding and open container violations.
Gottlieb also was charged with being a minor in possession of beer.
That, Edmonds ruled, is unconstitutional under the S.C. Constitution. Mark Plowden, spokesman for the state Attorney General, said the magistrate judge only has jurisdiction over the defendant or case before him.
The ruling doesn't apply to other cases and the current state law stands.
The state could appeal the decision to a Circuit Court which eventually could lead to higher courts, he said.
James Huff, a North Augusta attorney, represented Gottlieb and argued the case before Edmonds.
Huff said the state Constitution gives citizens 18 and older full legal rights and responsibilities with the exception of restricting the sale of alcoholic beverages until age 21.
Since that is the only restriction spelled out, laws that place further restrictions are unconstitutional, according to Huff.
"The State would have this court rule that the word 'sale' includes the word 'possession.' The General Assembly ... has carefully and selectively used the words 'sale', purchase', 'possession' and distribution' when prohibiting certain types of activity," Edmonds wrote in his opinion.
"There is no logical reason why such a basic, but significant distinction could not have been made in the wording (of the Constitution)."
He also cited a recent state Supreme Court ruling involving the possession of a handgun by people 18 to 20 years old.
The law made it illegal for anyone under 21 to buy or possess a handgun. (There are exceptions for adult instruction and when under the immediate supervision of a parent.)
In the handgun case, the court said that by "expressly allowing the regulation of the sale of alcoholic beverages to the 18-to-20-year-old age group and not stating any other situation in which the General Assembly may restrict the rights of this age group, the state constitution precludes the General Assembly from prohibiting this age group's possession of handguns."
Huff said that in the handgun case, the General Assembly changed the state law to set the minimum age for handgun possession at 18.
So what happens next?
Huff said he hopes the General Assembly will change state law to remove prohibitions on people 18 to 20 possessing and consuming alcohol.
Herb Mattocks, executive director for Center for Alcohol and Drug Services, said that most underage alcohol enforcement in Aiken County is aimed at stopping illegal sales.
It usually involves compliance checks where officers check to make sure stores aren't selling to anyone underage.
Aiken County doesn't do "party patrols" - going after underage drinkers at parties, he said. However, that's a more common practice for law enforcement in some areas.
Mattocks said parents can give their own underage children alcohol in their own home. However, they can't give it to other children, nor can they buy alcohol in a restaurant for their child to drink.
Contact Jennifer Miller at jmiller@aikenstandard.com.