Florence tattoo artist Ron White, who has challenged South Carolina's tattoo ban all the way to the nation's highest court, is suing South Carolina for criminalizing his profession.

But White's 4-year-old effort to overturn the state law on the grounds that it violates his First Amendment right of free expression apparently won't be advanced by S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, whose office wants the case thrown out.

McMaster's office filed a motion Friday, arguing that the state Supreme Court already ruled against White's constitutional argument and that a U.S. District Court would have no jurisdiction.

"Our position is that courts have already decided this issue," said Attorney General spokesman Trey Walker.

If the case is dismissed, White's hopes of legally practicing his profession will rest with the General Assembly, which for the past several sessions has considered -- but never approved -- bills aimed at allowing a regulated tattoo industry.

State Sen. Bill Mescher, R-Pinopolis, who has introduced all of the legislation, said his goal is to legitimize a trade that has been pushed underground and made unsafe.

White, 34, said he is among dozens of tattoo artists around the state, including some operating in the Charleston area, who ply their trade in defiance of the ban. He said he is concerned that some tattoo artists are working in unsanitary areas and not properly sterilizing equipment.

"It's reasonable to assume that tattooing underground by people who haven't ever worked in a professional establishment could pose a health threat" White said, adding that the Internet has made it relatively easy for someone desiring a tattoo to link up with an underground artist.

Regardless of what comes of the latest lawsuit, the issue of tattooing likely will resurface in the Statehouse after legislators return in January.

Mescher said last year's bill, still active because of the Legislature's two-year session, stands a better chance of passage than in past years because a staunch tattoo opponent has changed his tune.

Sen. Jake Knotts, a former House member, has stymied tattoo legislation, often citing anti-tattoo Bible references. Mescher said Knotts, R-West Columbia, had a change of heart after accompanying police on a raid of an illegal tattoo parlor and witnessing unsanitary conditions inside. After the incident, Knotts told Mescher he would not actively oppose future attempts to legalize tattooing.

Knotts could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Besides letting the state Department of Health and Environmental Control regulate tattooing, the bill would require parental consent for people younger than 21 and ban inking above the neck. It also would allow municipalities to regulate tattoo parlors through business permits and zoning.

The zoning stipulation is particularly important to the bill's chances, Mescher said, because some lawmakers have expressed concern that tattoo parlors would proliferate. The bill would give local officials the final say on whether to license tattoo businesses in their communities.

White said he's wary of the political process and would prefer to win his fight in the courts, where his legal battle began in 1999 after a TV station aired him tattooing someone in his Florence home. He was later arrested, fined $2,500 and put on five years' probation.

An appeal of his conviction reached the state Supreme Court, which ruled 4-1 in March 2002 that the state ban did not violate White's constitutional rights because tattooing poses health risks and the state has a public interest in regulating it.

A similar lawsuit in Massachusetts a couple years ago resulted in that state lifting its ban, leaving South Carolina and Oklahoma as the only two states that ban tattooing.

After losing in state court, White signed on with Ken Starr, the lawyer who investigated President Clinton in the Whitewater scandal, and took his fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last October, the high court declined to hear the case.