James Clyburn, Denouncing Chief Justice Roberts as ‘Infamous,’ Likens Him to Justice Who Wrote ‘Dred Scott’

The declaration by Congressman James Clyburn to CNN on Sunday that Chief Justice Roberts will join the ranks of “infamous” high court justices underscores the backlash on the left to the Nine’s decision last week narrowing the ambit of the 1964 Voting Rights Act. The octogenarian lawmaker from South Carolina told Jake Tapper that he “never thought I would see the day that the United States Supreme Court would be so openly partisan with what it’s been doing.” He reckoned that Chief Justice Roberts “is going to take his place alongside” one of his predecessors — Chief Justice Roger Taney, who led the high court between 1836 and 1864.Taney’s legacy is tainted by his delivery of the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford, reckoned to be the worst ruling in the history of the high court. In that decision from 1857 the Taney Court held that blacks could not be considered American citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories. Another chief justice, Charles Evans Hughes, has called it the Supreme Court’s “greatest self-inflicted wound.”Judge Taney, writing for a seven to two majority, reckoned that blacks “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” The ruling is often seen as accelerating the path to the Civil War.Justices have reached for Dred Scott as shorthand for a misbegotten ruling. Justice Clarence Thomas, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which denied the constitutional right to an abortion, likened the toppled precedent of Roe v. Wade to Dred Scott. Chief Justice Roberts himself invoked Dred Scott to underline his dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges, which enshrined constitutional protection for gay marriage. The historian Sean Wilentz, writing in the New York Review of Books, called Trump v. United States, the ruling from 2024 that established presidential immunity for official actions — a signature victory for President Trump in his efforts to avoid conviction by Special Counsel Jack Smith — the “Dred Scott of Our Time.”‘Portrait of Dred Scott’ by Louis Schultze, 1888. Missouri Historical Society. Via Wikimedia CommonsMr. Clyburn, 85, recently announced his intention to run for an 18th term in Congress. His ire was raised by Louisiana v. Callais, which was handed down late last month. In that case, decided by a seven to two margin, the high court ruled that Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which included two majority-black districts, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Callais was written not by Chief Justice Roberts but by Justice Samuel Alito.In the wake of Callais, a clash erupted between Justice Alito and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson over the ruling’s implementation. The court’s junior justice wrote in dissent that the ruling “has spawned chaos in the State of Louisiana” and that the court’s expedited procedure indicated a “strong political undercurrent.” Justice Alito responded that Justice Jackson’s approach would guarantee that elections in the Pelican State would be “held under a map that has been held to be unconstitutional.” Justice Alito then denounced as “groundless and utterly irresponsible” Justice Jackson’s imprecations that under the majority’s approach “principles give way to power.” Chief Justice Roberts, sensing the division within his court and the uproar outside of it, offered a defense of the justices during a judicial conference at Hershey, Pennsylvania last week. The chief lamented that Americans “view us as truly political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do. I would say that’s the main difficulty.” Chief Justice Roberts added that he and his colleagues are “not simply part of the political process, and there’s a reason for that, and I’m not sure people grasp that as much as is appropriate.” While Chief Justice Roberts did not mention any specific cases, he allowed that “one of the things we have to do is issue decisions that are unpopular” and which some people see — inaccurately, in his reckoning — as “policy decisions.” He insisted that the rulings handed down by the high court are “based on our best effort to figure out what the Constitution means and how it applies.”Chief Justice Taney. Photograph by Matthew Brady, 1850. Via Wikimedia CommonsDuring Chief Justice Roberts’s confirmation hearings in 2005 he likened a Supreme Court justice to umpires in baseball. He reasoned that “Umpires don’t make the rules, they apply them. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire.”Mr. Clyburn told Mr. Tapper that he is confident in his reelection notwithstanding the ongoing battles over electoral maps. He declared that “I don’t know why people think I could not get reelected if they redistrict South Carolina. I have a district that’s about 45 percent African-American. I have no idea what the number will be after the legislature finishes, but whatever that number is, I will be running on my record and America’s promise.”

James Clyburn, Denouncing Chief Justice Roberts as ‘Infamous,’ Likens Him to Justice Who Wrote ‘Dred Scott’

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