Clyburn: Roberts to join ranks of 'infamous' Supreme Court justices over voting rights decision

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

05/10/26 12:44 PM ET


Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) claimed that Supreme Court Justice Chief John Roberts will join the ranks of “infamous” high court justices over a recent decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act. “I never thought I would see the day that the United States Supreme Court would be so openly partisan with what it’s been doing,” Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“And I really believe if you look at all of these decisions, and you look at the history of the country, I think that Justice Roberts is going to take his place alongside some other infamous justices like [former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger] Taney, who gave us the Dred Scott decision,” he added. Taney authored the Supreme Court’s 1857 ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which found that enslaved Black people were not citizens and therefore couldn’t sue in federal courts.

Scott was an enslaved Black person that sued for his freedom after he was taken to and lived in Illinois, where slavery was not allowed. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that enslaved people could not have rights as citizens. Democrats have ripped the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which declared the state’s addition of a second majority-Black congressional district an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The 6-3 April decision weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has historically enabled advocacy groups to force the creation of majority-minority districts. The recent decision does not get rid of the provision as a whole, with Justice Samuel Alito, who delivered the opinion, portraying it as an “update” to the framework that has governed Voting Rights Act cases for decades. In turn, a number of Republicans in Southern states have sought to draw new congressional lines ahead of the November midterm elections.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5871633-clyburn-roberts-infamous-supreme-court-justices/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Clyburn: "I think Justice Roberts is gonna take his place alongside some other justices, like Taney

Clyburn: "I think Justice Roberts is gonna take his place alongside some other justices, like Taney who gave us the Dred Scott decision"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-05-10T13:41:45.922Z

Twins. History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.

— Mark Sumner 🌒 (@devilstower.bsky.social) 2026-05-07T22:42:14.146Z

6 years ago, I wrote that John Roberts, who craves to be ranked w J Marshall (or CE Hughes or E Warren) as greatest, institutionalist, consensus-building Chief Justice..
...would instead challenge Roger "Dred Scott" Taney as worst + most partisan-hack chief.

Now, no contest. Roberts beats Taney.

— James Fallows (@jfallows.bsky.social) 2026-05-10T16:20:34.318Z

Chief Justice Roberts has spent his entire career trying to destroy the Voting Rights Act. He’s been trying to stop Black voting power since he worked for Reagan’s DOJ.
History will remember him as an enemy of civil rights for all Americans.
Just like CJ Taney, another white supremacist.

— @bells110.bsky.social 2026-05-07T21:55:46.439Z

After 'Shelby County' 13 years ago, I wrote that John Roberts was on track to displace Roger 'Dred Scott' Taney as the Chief Justice who would live in infamy.

It's no contest any more.

Alito is a worse partisan hack, but he never pretended to be anything else. Roberts wanted to be "respected."

— James Fallows (@jfallows.bsky.social) 2026-05-02T16:58:46.980Z

[dalton99a]

3. +1.

[appmanga]

2. And it's not just for this decision...

...but also for the decision in "Holder", the "Trump is above the law decision" and the decision taking away the ability of the states to simply bar felons from running for federal office.

I've long had no doubt Roberts and Taney will live arm-in-arm in history, and ill-repute, as the most infamous Chief Justices.

[DemocracyForever]

4. GOP SCOTUS was partisan in 2000!

with the Bush vs Gore ruling. That's what started this nightmare. Let's not forget that Roberts was one of the Brooks Brothers rioters that stopped the legal 2000 Presidential vote count in Miami-Dade County.

[AverageOldGuy]

5. What must Roberts think?

I'm not a historian of any sort and am certainly not a Supreme Court historian.

But I'm thinking about something and don't know exactly how to express it -- here goes.

The Dred Scott decision tarnished Taney's reputation. Did Taney know that? Did he, at any time after the Dred Scott decision know that he was considered a disaster as a jurist? Or did Taney die thinking he had done the right thing?

So -- what about Roberts' reputation? 100 years from now, what will history say about Roberts? Or, is history now telling Roberts that he has fucked up big time, that his reputation is in the toilet, and that he will forever be considered one of the worst Chief Justices of all time??

It's one thing to die thinking you did the right thing, it's something else entirely to learn that your reputation is forever trashed and you have to live another 30 years knowing what history will say about you because history is already speaking.

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. "I never thought...."

I think I have discovered the reason behind the problems we are having.

Both now and in the past.



(Again, what is so frustrating is that some of us did think... and we were either laughed at or insulted for being 'negative'.)