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82 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. [i] (2007)

handle is hein.journals/chknt82 and id is 1 raw text is: CHICAGO-KENT LAW REVIEW VOLUME 82 2007 NUMBER 1 CONTENTS SYMPOSIUM: 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DRED SCOTT DECISION SYMPOSIUM EDITORS PAUL FINKELMAN JACK M. BALKIN SANFORD LEVINSON ARTICLES SCOTT V. SANDFORD: THE COURT'S MOST DREADFUL CASE AND How IT CHANGED HISTORY Paul Finkelman 3 Dred Scott, without doubt, is the most controversial case in the history of the United States Supreme Court. Unlike the controversies that surround other deci- sions of the Court, the controversy surrounding Dred Scott does not turn on if the outcome or Chief Justice Taney's analysis was wrong, but rather on why the out- come and Chief Justice Taney's analysis were wrong. This article focuses on the political goals Taney attempted to accomplish through his decision in Dred Scott. Though there existed reasons for Taney's belief that his decision in Dred Scott would once and for all end the political debate over slavery in the territories, his decision ultimately served as a key catalyst in creating the crisis that led to Abra- ham Lincoln's election, secession, civil war, and, ultimately, the end of slavery. THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT DRED SCOTT Jack M. Balkin 49 and Sanford Levinson Dred Scott v. Sanford is a classic case that is relevant to almost every impor- tant question of contemporary constitutional theory. Dred Scott connected race to social status, to citizenship, and to being a part of the American people. One hundred fifty years later these connections still haunt us; and the twin questions of who is truly American and who America be- longs to still roil our national debates. Dred Scott is a case about threats to national security and whether the Consti- tution is a suicide pact. It concerns whether the Constitution follows the flag and whether constitutional rights obtain in federally held lands overseas. And it asks whether, as Chief Justice Taney famously said of blacks, there are indeed some people who have no rights we Americans are bound to respect. Dred Scott remains the most salient example in debates over the legitimacy of substantive due process. It subverts our intuitions about the relative merits of

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