Dred Scott and the dangers of a political court

Responsibility: Ethan Greenberg.
Imprint: Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, c2009.
Physical description: ix, 328 p. ; 24 cm.

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Call number	Note	Status
KF228 .S27 G74 2009		Unknown

Description

Creators/Contributors

Author/Creator: Greenberg, Ethan, 1957-

Contents/Summary

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-324) and index.

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 Part I. History
Chapter 3
Chapter 1. Preface-Dred Scott in a House Divided
Chapter 4
Chapter 2. A Slave's Life
Chapter 5
Chapter 3. False Promise of Freedom-Scott's State Court Trials
Chapter 6
Chapter 4. "A Dark and Fell Spirit"-Missouri's Supreme Court Reverses
Chapter 7
Chapter 5. New Trial and Defeat in St. Louis Federal Court
Chapter 8
Chapter 6. At the Summit-Argument and Reargument
Chapter 9
Chapter 7. The President-Elect Secretly Intervenes
Chapter 10
Chapter 8. "The South is Doomed"-Chief Justice Roger Taney
Part 11 Part II. Law
Chapter 12
Chapter 9. Taney's Opinion of the Court: An Overview
Chapter 13
Chapter 10. Can a Black Man Be a True American?-Taney on Negro Citizenship
Chapter 14
Chapter 11. "Upon These Considerations"-Taney Strikes Down the Missouri Compromise
Chapter 15
Chapter 12. The Road Not Taken-Taney on Choice of Law and Res Judicata
Chapter 16
Chapter 13. The Majority Concurs (After a Fashion)
Chapter 17
Chapter 14. Two Ringing Dissents
Chapter 18
Chapter 15. Reaction and the Way to Civil War
Part 19 Part III. Analysis
Chapter 20
Chapter 16. The Use and Misuse of History
Chapter 21
Chapter 17. The Aspirationalist Critique-"Indifference to Injustice"
Chapter 22
Chapter 18. The Originalist Critique-"First Cousin to Roe"
Chapter 23
Chapter 19. The Traditional "Judicial Restraint" Critique
Chapter 24
Chapter 20. Dred Scott and the Dangers of a Political Court.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Publisher's summary

The Dred Scott decision of 1857 is widely (and correctly) regarded as the very worst in the long history of the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision held that no African American could ever be a U.S. citizen and declared that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional and void. The decision thus appeared to promise that slavery would be forever protected in the great American West. Prompting mass outrage, the decision was a crucial step on the road that led to the Civil War. Dred Scott and the Dangers of a Political Court traces the history of the case and tells the story of many of the key people involved, including Dred and Harriet Scott, President James Buchanan, Chief Justice Roger Taney, and Abraham Lincoln. The book also examines in some detail each of the nine separate Opinions written by the Court's Justices, connecting each with the respective Justices' past views on slavery and the law. That examination demonstrates that the majority Justices were willing to embrace virtually any flimsy legal argument they could find at hand in an effort to justify the pro-slavery result they had predetermined. Many modern commentators view the case chiefly in relation to Roe v Wade and related controversies in modern constitutional law: some conservative critics attempt to argue that Dred Scott exemplifies "aspirationalism" or "judicial activism" gone wrong; some liberal critics in turn try to argue that Dred Scott instead represents "originalism" or "strict constructionism" run amok. Here, Judge Ethan Greenberg demonstrates that none of these modern critiques has much merit. The Dred Scott case was not about constitutional methodology, but chiefly about slavery, and about how very far the Dred Scott Court was willing to go to protect the political interests of the slave-holding South. The decision was wrong because the Court subordinated law and intellectual honesty to politics. The case thus exemplifies the dangers of a political Court.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Subjects

Subjects: Scott, Dred, 1809-1858 > Trials, litigation, etc.; Sanford, John F. A., 1806 or 1807-1857 > Trials, litigation, etc.; Slavery > Law and legislation > United States > History > 19th century.; Political questions and judicial power > United States.

Bibliographic information

Publication date: 2009
ISBN: 9780739137581 (cloth : alk. paper); 0739137581 (cloth : alk. paper)

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