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Dred Scott
Apr. 8th, 2007 01:56 pmYesterday was the 150th anniversary of one of the greatest travesties the US Supreme Court has ever handed down.
From the Wikipedia article on the subject:
In 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, of the United States Supreme Court, delivered the majority opinion. It consisted of the following points:
* Any person descended from black Africans, whether slave or free, is not a citizen of the United States, according to the U.S. Constitution.
* The Ordinance of 1787 could not confer freedom or citizenship within the Northwest Territory to Black people.
* The provisions of the Act of 1820, known as the Missouri Compromise, were voided as a legislative act because the act exceeded the powers of Congress, insofar as it attempted to exclude slavery and impart freedom and citizenship to Black people in the northern part of the Louisiana cession.
In effect, the Court ruled that slaves had no claim to freedom; they were property and not citizens; they could not bring suit in federal court; and because slaves were private property, the federal government could not revoke a white slave owner's right to own a slave based on where he lived, thus nullifying the essence of the Missouri Compromise. Chief Justice Taney, speaking for the majority, also ruled that Scott was a slave, an object of private property, and therefore subject to the Fifth Amendment prohibition against taking property from its owner "without due process."
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There is an aptness in this occurring during Passover, to me at least. Passover, to me, serves as a reminder that there is still slavery in the world and that there are great social injustices still to be addressed and beaten.
From the Wikipedia article on the subject:
In 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, of the United States Supreme Court, delivered the majority opinion. It consisted of the following points:
* Any person descended from black Africans, whether slave or free, is not a citizen of the United States, according to the U.S. Constitution.
* The Ordinance of 1787 could not confer freedom or citizenship within the Northwest Territory to Black people.
* The provisions of the Act of 1820, known as the Missouri Compromise, were voided as a legislative act because the act exceeded the powers of Congress, insofar as it attempted to exclude slavery and impart freedom and citizenship to Black people in the northern part of the Louisiana cession.
In effect, the Court ruled that slaves had no claim to freedom; they were property and not citizens; they could not bring suit in federal court; and because slaves were private property, the federal government could not revoke a white slave owner's right to own a slave based on where he lived, thus nullifying the essence of the Missouri Compromise. Chief Justice Taney, speaking for the majority, also ruled that Scott was a slave, an object of private property, and therefore subject to the Fifth Amendment prohibition against taking property from its owner "without due process."
**************
There is an aptness in this occurring during Passover, to me at least. Passover, to me, serves as a reminder that there is still slavery in the world and that there are great social injustices still to be addressed and beaten.
