On Oct. 4, 2025, a house owned by South Carolina state Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein burned to the ground. Goodstein's family members, including her husband, Arnold Goodstein (a former state senator), and son Arnold Goodstein II, were injured in the fire, according to The Guardian.
Some online, including U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York, suspected the fire was more than an accident, however. In September 2025, Goodstein issued a temporary injunction that blocked the release of South Carolina's voting files to U.S. President Donald Trump's justice department. The South Carolina State Supreme Court later overturned her ruling. Posts on social media questioned whether the blaze was an act of arson meant to target the judge for ruling against the president.
According to a statement provided to reporters by Mark Keel, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) chief, no evidence exists suggesting the fire was set intentionally, as of this writing. Keel also urged caution when speculating about the fire's potential causes.
"I urge our citizens, elected officials, and members of the press to exercise good judgement and not share information that has not been verified," he said.
Goodstein's September injunction was publicly criticized by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, who called it a "hasty nullification of our federal voting laws." According to The Guardian, Dhillon's division has been responsible for collecting personally identifying information of voters, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers, under an executive order aimed to stop "non-citizen voter registration." (Snopes has previously investigated the claim that non-citizens vote in U.S. elections. It's incredibly rare, and there are countless protections in place to prevent it.).
FITSNews, a South Carolina news and politics blog, quoted South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kittredge as saying the fire was started by an "apparent explosion" and cited an anonymous source that said Goodstein had faced "multiple death threats over the years."
Both claims added credence to users online claiming that the fire was arson (the April 2025 arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's residence also likely helped support the claim), and other news outlets claimed that the fire was started by an explosion.
However, Keel's later press statement noted that SLED investigators had found no evidence the fire was caused by an explosion. In a follow-up article, FITSNews reported that one of Goodstein's family members said the fire was "so hot the cars exploded." The outlet did not provide more information about death threats made against Goodstein.