COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina’s attorney general says the state’s Supreme Court could likely strike down any local hate crimes ordinance based on the state’s Constitution and lawmaker authority.

Attorney General Alan Wilson released the opinion on Monday at the request of the city of Greenwood, which requested to debate a municipal hate crimes law almost identical to one passed by the Lexington County city of Cayce. That law would make it illegal to intimidate someone based on a protected status and is punishable as a separate crime with a fine of up to $500 and/or 30 days in jail.

But in his legal opinion, Wilson said municipalities or counties cannot create laws that criminalize activity that is not otherwise illegal in the rest of the state.

The framers of the state’s Consti

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