Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., used a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to deliver a sharp warning about the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the court is moving toward reviving elements of the infamous 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling.
The South Carolina Democrat said he believes recent decisions from the current Supreme Court reflect an effort to echo the majority opinion authored by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who declared in that case that Black people “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”
Clyburn raised the comparison while defending his support for enlarging the nation’s highest court, a proposal that has become a recurring flashpoint in debates over Supreme Court reform.
Moderator Kristen Welker pressed Clyburn on the issue, noting that former Vice President Kamala Harris has voiced similar concerns about the court and has supported increasing the number of justices from nine to 13. Welker asked whether Clyburn backed the addition of four seats.
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Clyburn said he did, arguing that the moment demands “significant actions” from Congress. He called 13 justices “a pretty good number,” referring to it as “a baker’s dozen,” and said he hoped any new members would respect what he described as the constitutional foundations of the country. Pointing to the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, Clyburn said the Warren Court had once offered an interpretation he believed could guide the nation’s future, but he accused the current Supreme Court of reversing course and steering the country back toward Taney’s view that Black Americans had no rights white Americans were required to respect.
“That was the Supreme Court that made that decision,” he added. “I hope that Clarence Thomas would follow the modern underpinnings of that constitution of ours. But he has not done so. In fact, he has decided to go all the way from an angry leftist to a very angry rightist.”
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