Jake Tapper Sets Up Clyburn to Unload Jim Crow Metaphors on Top Court #Political
On Sunday, CNN’s State of the Union featured a discussion with Democratic Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina concerning The Supreme Court's latest decision against using race in redistricting. The conversation quickly turned to comparisons between the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act and Jim Crow-era policies.
First, Tapper began by asking Clyburn if his congressional seat was “headed for elimination.” Clyburn confidently responded, “I don't know why people think I cannot get reelected if they redistrict South Carolina.” Incumbents typically still have advantages even after redistricting.
Tapper later set up Clyburn to employ all the "Jim Crow" metaphors.
TAPPER: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, he called the Supreme Court's decision to weaken the Voting Rights Act, as it were -- quote -- "another step towards resurrecting the Jim Crow South." Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock said it was a -- quote -- "21st century version of Jim Crow in new clothes. “Do you agree?
CLYBURN: Absolutely, I agree, so much so that I have been saying this now for the last four or five years, and people have been looking at me as if I'm crazy or something.
Yes, it might sound crazy to say nothing's changed on race in the South since the 1950s.
Clyburn then mentioned his new book, The First Eight, which is about the eight African Americans that served in Congress before him who were all “kicked out of office over this kind of tortured gerrymandering.” (They were Republicans, but CNN viewers apparently didn't need to know that.)
Jim Crow Rhetoric Goes Unchallenged in Clyburn CNN Interview#cnn #news #tapper pic.twitter.com/k7oxPjfWYb
— Sarah (@scbpoli) May 13, 2026
Tapper then asked for his reaction to Justice Alito saying that “Vast social change has shown that some race-based voting protections are no longer necessary.” Clyburn answered, “why is it okay to have a 75 percent white district and that's not racial; if you have a 45 percent black district, that is racial?”
Clyburn argued that by looking at the Supreme Court’s reasoning it is obvious that they are “throwing everything out of the window, coming up with new theories, putting in their own prejudices in this, and they are being very partisan in their rulings.” He explained that he “never thought” he would “see the day that the United States Supreme Court would be so openly partisan with what it's been doing.”
Clyburn concluded by comparing Justice Roberts to Justice Roger B. Taney, who ruled in the Dred Scott decision that African Americans could not be citizens. He ended with, “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 Taney, who gave us the Dred Scott decision.”
Journalists like Tapper -- who scowl about election deniers -- eagerly engage with racial-advancement deniers.
Click "Expand" to view transcript:
State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash
5/10/2026
9:19:23-9:20:35
JAKE TAPPER: Congressman Clyburn, is your congressional seat headed for elimination? What would that mean for South Carolina voters, for Congress and for you?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me, Jake.
The voters will have the last word on this. And I don't know why people think I cannot get reelected if they redistrict South Carolina. Now, I have a district that's about a 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 a record and a promise, my record and America's promise. So I'm going to run irrespective of what the makeup of the district might be, because I believe that I have a record that is very acceptable to the South Carolina voter and I have a good understanding of America's promise. And we'll run on that.
9:23:29-9:27:09
TAPPER: I want to ask you about some of the criticisms of these redistricting efforts that we've heard from some of the other Democratic leaders. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, he called the Supreme Court's decision to weaken the Voting Rights Act, as it were -- quote -- "another step towards resurrecting the Jim Crow South."
Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock said it was a -- quote -- "21st century version of Jim Crow in new clothes. “Do you agree?
CLYBURN: Absolutely, I agree, so much so that I have been saying this now for the last four or five years, and people have been looking at me as if I'm crazy or something.
I just published a book. I think we have talked about it here.
TAPPER: Yep.
CLYBURN: "The First Eight." That is about the eight African-Americans that served in Congress from South Carolina before me. I'm the ninth. And the fact of the matter is, they all were kicked out of office over this kind of tortures gerrymandering, as well as the kind of creative devices that you see put in forth in the so-called SAVE Act, something else that the president wants.
He's been trying to force the Senate to pass the SAVE Act. I will ask anybody, take a look at the SAVE Act and then take a look at my book, "The First Eight," because that book will tell you exactly what they did after the Civil War, after bringing Reconstruction to an end, and initiated Jim Crow.
There are 95 years between number eight in my book and yours truly, number nine. That did not happen organically. That happened because Congress and the Supreme Court changed the rules, as they are doing today.
TAPPER: And, on that note, the reason why this scramble to redistrict in the South in places like Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, obviously South Carolina, the reason it's happening is because the U.S. Supreme Court struck down this key provision in the Voting Rights Act.
And in his decision, Justice Alito wrote that -- quote -- "Vast social change has shown that some race-based voting protections are no longer necessary." What was your reaction when you first read that?
CLYBURN: Well, my first reaction was, if you look at -- let's just look at South Carolina and look at the congressional districts in South Carolina, why is it okay to have a 75 percent white district and that's not racial; if you have a 45 percent black district, that is racial?
So what is this about? There's no way that the numbers bear this out. When you look at what the Supreme Court's reasons have been, you have to come to the conclusion that they are throwing everything out of the window, coming up with new theories, putting in their own prejudices in this, and they are being very partisan in their rulings.
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. 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 Taney, who gave us the Dred Scott decision.
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