instances of violence in Columbia and Charleston. In Columbia, police cars were torched, shots were fired at police, and businesses were vandalized. In Charleston, protesters stopped traffic on Interstate-26 and the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge and vandalized and looted businesses. Like President Trump, McMaster said that state and local governments were being too lenient on rioters and looters and was critical of Charleston's initial response. He said to Trump, "We've got to take people out, give them justice, make it more than just the cost of doing business to come into one town, get arrested, pay bond." McMaster mobilized the South Carolina National Guard to be dispatched, if necessary, to halts riots and looting. At Trump's request, he also sent members of the National Guard to Washington, D.C. to aid in larger-scale protests. Adams v. Henry McMaster McMaster is a longtime advocate of private education. In 2020, as part of the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) and the CARES Act, federal funds were distributed to support education in states amid the COVID-19 pandemic. McMaster announced that he sought to use $32 billion, or two thirds, of South Carolina's $48 billion allotment on private school vouchers, and that 5,000 grants to private schools would be made with the federal relief money. His decision received harsh criticism from educators and politicians around the state. The Palmetto State Teachers Association stated that the money could have been better used for South Carolina's nearly 1,000,000 students in public education instead of 5,000 students in private schools. SC for Ed, a teachers' advocacy group, called the decision "disappointing." McMaster's supporters argued that parents should have a choice about where to send their children. On July 22, 2020, McMaster's decision was halted by court order after educators sued him for failing to uphold a principle of the South Carolina Constitution: "No money shall be paid from public funds nor shall the credit of the State or any of its political subdivisions be used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution." McMaster's attorneys argued that the decision to use emergency funds for private schools should be decided by the voters or the South Carolina General Assembly, not a court order. On October 7, in the case Adams v. Henry McMaster, the South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously struck down McMaster's decision, citing a violation of the state constitution. On October 23, McMaster filed