COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina Republican lawmaker said he is filing a bill that would allow former President Donald Trump to buried on the grounds of the state Capitol if Trump is banned from being buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Rep. RJ May said his bill is in response to a bill in the U.S. House sponsored by a Democrat banning twice impeached presidents from being honored with the burial at one of the nation’s most revered resting places or having federal money spent on any memorials.
Trump is the only president to be impeached twice.
May’s proposed bill only applies to twice acquitted presidents — the U.S. Senate refused to convict Trump both times the House impeached him.
If Trump agreed to be buried at the South Carolina Statehouse, a committee would determine a proper resting place.
May’s bill was not listed among the introduced bills Thursday in the House, but the first-term legislator from the Republican stronghold of Lexington County posted a screen shot of the proposal on his Facebook page.
Only one other person is buried on the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse. Revolutionary War captain Swanson Lunsford died of yellow fever in 1799 and was interred on a remote part of the grounds because Columbia officials were likely worried the disease might spread if he was buried in a church or public cemetery, according to Historic Columbia.
Neither the national or state Trump burial bills have advanced beyond filing. In the first two months of the South Carolina General Assembly session, nearly 1,000 bills have been filed.
