Of South Carolina’s 302 county-level judges, state legislators have left 40 judges sitting in office, even after their terms have expired. (File/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — The founder of South Carolina’s uber-conservative House Freedom Caucus had multiple electronic devices seized by federal law enforcement in August, according to a document filed Thursday in federal court.
A U.S. Attorney is asking the court for more time in a case involving Rep. RJ May.
House Rep. Robert Jr. “RJ” May, a founder of the Freedom Caucus, represents a Lexington County district. (Courtesy of South Carolina Statehouse)
The filing is the first public confirmation that the federal government seized a number of electronics from the West Columbia Republican on Aug. 5.
The U.S. Attorney for South Carolina is seeking permission to keep the electronics and extend a deadline for filing a civil forfeiture case — a noncriminal proceeding that allows the government to take items suspected of being linked to a crime.
According to the filing, the items seized are associated with a criminal investigation, and federal prosecutors anticipate “the filing of a criminal indictment within three months.”
The filing requests a delay in starting the civil proceedings, as the forthcoming criminal proceedings would make the case unnecessary. It does not say what the criminal charges are or might be.
The items seized include a Lenovo laptop, an Amazon tablet, four cellphones, four hard drives, four SD cards, two DVD-Rs and 19 thumb drives, according to the document.
Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security Investigations seized the electronics, but the filing does not say from where. In August, a spokesperson for the federal agency confirmed to the SC Daily Gazette an “enforcement action” in Lexington County on Aug. 5 but did not provide any other details.
Neither May nor his attorney could be immediately reached Friday for comment. May has not responded to multiple messages from the SC Daily Gazette via cellphone phone and texts since Aug. 5.
The filing does say May is opposing the potential civil action.
May, first elected to the House in 2020, has led the faction of Republicans who have been warring with the chamber’s majority caucus for the last two years. The 38-year-old father of two also runs GOP political campaigns as the owner of Ivory Tusk Consulting.
May’s leadership title in the caucus was technically vice-chairman in the last session. But it was May whose GOP connections in Congress led to him starting an affiliate of the far-right U.S. House Freedom Caucus in South Carolina. And May has been the group’s de-facto spokesman.
The state chapter launched in spring 2022 with 14 Republicans who sought to pressure their GOP colleagues to move further to the right on issues including guns, taxes, abortion, and other hot-button social issues.
And they’ve had some success, as slightly different versions of several of their priorities were advanced by GOP leaders.
The schism among Republicans escalated after the 2022 elections, when May — who makes a living as a campaign consultant for Republicans who match his ideology – helped unseat at least one GOP leader.
The majority caucus then set a new rule that members couldn’t work to oust their fellow Republicans – a rule May called unfair targeting of his livelihood. The 17 Freedom Caucus members who refused to sign the pledge, likening it to a “blood oath,” were booted from the main caucus. And the House GOP civil war commenced.
May no longer has a leadership title with the caucus. Elections in July made freshman Rep. Jordan Pace of Goose Creek the chairman, and two other members became co-vice-chairmen.
Pace had no comment on the filing Friday evening.
The Freedom Caucus is losing four members this year who opted not to seek re-election – including two who lost their bids to Congress. But May has said he expects membership to return to 20 after the November election.
May easily defeated his primary challenger in June with 68% of the vote in the district that spans the area of Lexington County between Cayce, Red Bank and Gaston. He is not facing any Democrat or third-party candidate in November, although he is facing a write-in challenger.