Dred Scott was a slave whose owner, an army doctor, had spent time in Illinois, a free state, and Wisconsin, a free territory at the time of Scott’s residence. The Supreme Court was stacked in favor of the slave states. Five of the nine justices were from the South while another, Robert Grier of Pennsylvania, was staunchly pro-slavery. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the majority decision, which was issued on March 6, 1857.
The court held that Scott was not free based on his residence in either Illinois or Wisconsin becausehe was not considered a person under the U.S. Constitution–in the opinion of the justices, black people were not considered citizens when the Constitution was drafted in 1787. According to Taney, Dred Scott was the property of his owner, and property could not be taken from a person without due process of law.
In fact, there were free black citizens of the United States in 1787, but Taney and the other justices were attempting to halt further debate on the issue of slavery in the territories. The decision inflamed regional tensions, which burned for another four years before exploding into the Civil War.
This disgraceful decision proves that the Supreme Court is capable of rendering horrendous decisions The seven Justices who voted to deny Dred Scott of his freedom should have been dismissed from the court.
Supreme Court Justices do not have guaranteed life time terms. They serve during periods of good behavior. Hugo Black was a Justice who was an active member of the Ku Klux Klan and his worthiness to serve was never questioned.
Presidents William McKinley, Warren Harding, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Harry Truman were also members of the KKK.
The final arbiters of the Constitution are the people and when the Supreme Court Justices make unconstitutional decisions they need to be dismissed from the Supreme Court.
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