Craziness on MS NOW: Roberts Court Among ‘Most Racist’ in History, Ruling Like Dred Scott

MS NOW should be known as your channel if you're looking for overwrought racism metaphors. In a stunning segment on Saturday's The Weekend, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) unleashed an unhinged attack on the Supreme Court and its recent Voting Rights Act decision — comparing it to the Taney Court’s infamous 1857 Dred Scott ruling and declaring the Roberts Court “one of the most racist courts in American history.”

Here was Morelle to co-host Eugene Daniels: “Jose [sic!], we’re fighting back . . .  Eugene, the Supreme Court, which by the way made the worst decision since the Taney Court came up with Dred Scott. I mean, this is the Roberts Court will go down in history as one of the most racist courts in American history, and it is disgraceful.”

No MS NOW host was going to fact-check that nasty cartoon. 

Morelle also ripped the Virginia Supreme Court for supposedly “completely reject[ing] the will of the Virginia voters” when it struck down the Democrat-led mid-decade redistricting referendum. (The "Yes" vote was 51.7 percent.)  But it wasn’t the court that disregarded the will of the voters — it was the Democrat-run legislature that disregarded the Virginia Constitution and its clear rules for adopting amendments.

Morelle also falsely claimed that Louisiana’s governor paused primaries “despite votes having already been cast.” In fact, early voting in Louisiana had not begun when the governor suspended the congressional primaries to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

In stark contrast, when Virginia Democrats pushed their mid-decade redistricting referendum in April, over 1.37 million early votes had already been cast.

After Morelle has covered the whole pasture with manure, host Eugene Daniels could only helpfully asking Morelle how Democrats can amend New York’s constitution so they can do the exact same mid-decade gerrymandering they’re denouncing elsewhere. Sadly, Eugene missed that New York's governor already accomplished mid-decade gerryamandering in 2024.

Morelle admitted that Democrats are actively working to rewrite New York’s constitution — the very thing they scream is illegitimate when Republicans do it. Daniels didn’t challenge any of the inflammatory rhetoric. He simply asked for a roadmap on how best to rig the maps in New York.

This is peak Democratic-media hypocrisy: Compare courts enforcing constitutional rules to Dred Scott, cry about “the will of the voters” while ignoring that your own side pushed a referendum after more than a million votes were already in the books, and then openly plot to bypass your own state constitution.

Equating the Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act decision with the infamous Dred Scott ruling has apparently become a mandatory Democrat talking point. We’ve documented other Dems, as here and here, making that grotesque comparison in recent days. And sure enough, Morelle checked the box on MS NOW today.

Note: Morelle also called co-host Eugene Daniels “Jose” before getting it right later. Whoops! Did a producer whisper in his ear? If a Republican had made such a gaffe?

Here's the transcript.

MS NOW
The Weekend
5/9/26
7:25 am EDT

EUGENE DANIELS: Congressman, you talked about changing the rules and changing the game. Republicans have also done that when it comes to mid-decade redistricting. It all started when President Trump told Texas lawmakers to find him five seats. They did that and set off this entire back and forth.

The Virginia Supreme Court struck down a voter-backed redistricting plan that is both a blow to Democrats and kind of the process that we are operating within.

When you, as someone who is in New York — it’s reported that you were involved in kind of pushing the redistricting effort there — when you’re looking at how Democrats and Republicans have been operating, that Republicans have been doing this over and over again. Even just this week you had Louisiana pause its primaries so that they could change the game and change the seats, as you said.

When you look at that, what should Democrats be doing next, especially in New York?

JOE MORELLE: Jose [sic!], we’re fighting back. We’re a little limited in New York because we cannot do mid-decade redistricting under our state constitution. 

So I was asked by Leader Jeffries to go to Albany and meet with legislators and the governor earlier this week, which I did. I’m a former state legislator, and I have a lot of relationships. 

So I urged them to begin the process, which is a two-year process, to change the state constitution because we have to fight back.

I mean, what’s happened, and is astonishing, Eugene [did a producer whisper in his ear to correct the "Jose" gaffe?], you just mentioned it. In California and Virginia, Democrats changed district lines by asking the public whether they wanted that to happen, through referenda, which passed. And of course, in Virginia, apparently the courts in Virginia think it’s too late to change lines, so they’re willing to completely reject the will of the Virginia voters.

But in southern states, in the past week, state legislatures by fiat have changed district lines that will likely lead to the elimination of black representation throughout the South, and they just did it. Doesn’t matter to them.

And to your point, Louisiana’s already in the middle of their voting — they’ve already had the primary, they’re in the runoff stage — and the governor unilaterally said, no, we’re gonna follow the Supreme Court.

Which, by the way, made the worst decision since the Taney Court came up with Dred Scott. And this is, the Roberts Court will go down in history as one of the most racist courts in American history, and it is disgraceful. 

That [the VRA decision] is being respected, but the will of voters in Virginia and in California are being challenged by Republicans. It’s really unbelievable. So New York and other states are gonna have to fight back, ’cause there’s no alternative at this point.

DANIELS: Congressman, really quickly, we’re out of time, but you mentioned that New York has to change its constitution. There are two ways to amend the constitution in New York to allow for something like this. Do you think that you guys should amend the constitution to allow for mid-decade redistricting in New York?

MORELLE: Yes. There’s really one way. You have to pass a provision in two different legislatures. There needs to be an intervening election, which is why we can’t do it this year. We would need to wait for final passage and then a referendum by the people in 2027. So I think by the 2028 election, I think you’ll see new lines in New York.