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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Rufus Rivers v. James Smith, Jr.

Denied
No. 24A1025Stay applicationFiled by a private partyPresented to The Chief JusticeFrom Supreme Court of South Carolina

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on April 25, 2025: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.

Filed Ruled 18 days after filing

What's being asked

Rufus Rivers and others ask the Supreme Court to temporarily pause a ruling from South Carolina's Supreme Court. Their case is against James Smith Jr., but the record does not explain what the ruling or dispute concerns.

What the Court did

The Chief Justice refused emergency help and denied (turned down) the request to pause the ruling. The Court did not publish how the justices voted, and the order does not decide who wins the underlying dispute.

Vote not published · 9the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Sotomayor
  5. Kagan
  6. Gorsuch
  7. Kavanaugh
  8. Barrett
  9. Jackson
The order does not say how any justice voted, as is usual on the emergency docket.
Half of 300 rulings on applications decided without a response came 8 to 28 days after filing, and the median was 14 days; this one was ruled on 18 days after filing.

What it means

This emergency ruling concerns only temporary relief and does not decide who wins the underlying case. The South Carolina Supreme Court's ruling remains in place; the record lists no related case about the main legal question, and no argument is set.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A1025. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 3, 2026