Clyburn Backs Adding Four Justices to Supreme Court

Clyburn was blunt about Thomas, saying he had hoped the justice "would follow the modern underpinnings of that Constitution of ours, but he has not done so." He added that Thomas "decided to go all the way from an angry leftist to a very angry rightist," and said he "absolutely" does not stand by the case he made for putting Thomas on the court. "I had no idea that Clarence Thomas would rebel, the way he has, against his own background and experiences," he said.

Conservative outlets zeroed in on that. PJ Media's Matt Margolis headlined his piece "James Clyburn Basically Says Clarence Thomas 'Ain't Black,'" casting the remarks as an attack on Thomas's racial identity. The Washington Examiner framed the interview as Clyburn ruing his old defense of the justice.

On the left, Talking Points Memo treated the comments as a milestone — "Clyburn: Let's Add Four" — noting that a lawmaker of Clyburn's standing publicly committing to expansion is what a durable reform coalition would need.

Republicans have long rejected the idea outright, accusing Democrats of trying to pack the court.