Clyburn signals support for expanding Supreme Court

Clyburn says he supports expanding Supreme Court, ‘baker’s dozen would be a good number’

FILE – U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., speaks to attendees at the South Carolina Democratic Party’s Blue Palmetto Dinner on May 29, 2026, in Columbia S.C. /Meg Kinnard, File)

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) —South Carolina’s most prominent Democrat voiced his support for expanding the number of justices on the US Supreme Court Sunday.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Palmetto State’s sole Democrat in Congress, told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker Sunday morning that he supported the calls coming from within his party to broaden the high court’s bench.

I think that we are in a position

“I think that we are in a position now that calls for some significant actions taken by the Congress and we ought to expand [the Supreme Court],” he said. “Thirteen is a pretty good number. A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the Court.”

Welker posed the question to Clyburn off of remarks made in recent months by former Vice President Kamala Harris, seen as some to be a major player in the party’s 2028 presidential primaries, where she expressed her support for adding more justices.

During a July 31 visit at the National Urban League’s annual conference, Harris brought up expanding the court to 13 justices as one of several issues she believes Democrats should be willing to have conversations about, issues which also included “revisiting” the Electoral College and statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico “if they so want.” The former VP measured her reasoning for the expansion as a way to match the total number of justices on the Supreme Court, currently nine, to the same number of district courts, 13.

At present, three Supreme Court justices oversee more

At present, three Supreme Court justices oversee more than one of the 13 circuit courts. Chief Justice John Roberts oversees the District of Columbia Circuit, the Fourth Circuit, and the Federal Circuit. Justice Samuel Alito oversees the Third and Fifth Circuits, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh oversees the Sixth and Eighth Circuits. Six out of the nine current justices were appointed by Republican presidents, including all three that oversee multiple circuits. Clyburn’s ire was not directed at any of those three by name, but instead at Justice Clarence Thomas, the second-longest serving justice in the Supreme Court’s history and one of only two Black men to be appointed to the position.

The congressman said that he hopes expanding the Court would mean “we would get people on the Court who will follow the constitutional underpinnings of this great nation of ours.”

“I had hope that Clarence Thomas would follow the modern underpinnings of that Constitution of ours, but he has not done so,” Clyburn continued. “In fact, he has decided to go all the way from an angry leftist to a very angry rightist,” he added, in a nod to the justice’s days as a young activist and admirer of Malcom X while studying at the College of the Holy Cross.

As NBC News noted, Clyburn considered Thomas a “good friend” during his confirmation process in 1991 and supported him despite their differences politically. Sunday, the congressman admitted that was a mistake. “I had no idea that Clarence Thomas would rebel the way he has against his own background and experiences,” he said.