University of St. Thomas School of Law and Lawyers’ Council on Social Justice to retry Dred Scott v. Sandford

On Monday, February 18 in honor of President’s Day the Lawyer’s Council on Social Justice and the University of St. Thomas School of Law will present a mock rehearing of arguments presented in Dred Scott v. Sandford, a 1857 case holding that "[a] free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a 'citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States."  The rehearing will take place in the Frey Moot Courtroom at the University of St. Thomas School of Law from 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. Dean Thomas Mengler and Professors Charles Reid and Nekima Levy-Pounds, will preside over the rehearing. Professors Robert Delahunty and Teresa Collett will present the arguments of Scott and Sandford.

Dred Scott v. Sandford centered around Dred Scott, the slave of a Missouri citizen, who traveled with his owner from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois. Scott claimed that the Constitution required that he be considered a free man because of the time he spent in Illinois. Sanford, his master, argued that property rights in a slave could not be lost by merely crossing state borders. 
 
Although seven of the nine Supreme Court justices agreed that Scott had no rights under the Constitution, it is Chief Justice Roger B. Taney's assertion that blacks were “unfit to associate with the white race” and “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect” that generated furious debate both on the court and among the public in 1857. The court's decision is often cited as one of the worst in American history and blamed for inflaming the political divide over slavery which ultimately led to the Civil War.

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