Dred Scott
Worst Three Decisions by the US Supreme Court: Dred Scott, Citizen’s United, and Florence v Burlington. Dred Scott reinforced slavery – and led to the Civil War. Citizen’s United puts really, really big money in politics – think Mr. Gingrich’s sugar daddy with his $10 million in PAC-Gingrich, and leads to what we have today. Florence allows the police to strip search anyone they arrest.
The good news and is that these decisions force us to recognize that the Justices of the Supreme Court are fallible men and women who sometimes make decisions emotionally and or based on their perceived financial interest, as the five members of the Taney court whos families owned slaves and who voted for slavery. This is also the bad news. The really bad news is that two out of three of these landmark mistakes occurred since January, 2010.
Looking with a long term perspective, the Dred Scott decision was overturned by the 14th Amendment. Roger B. Taney and the other six justices who voted for slavery and against freedom are history. Their names are generally not remembered. Similarly, Citizen’s United and Florence can, should, and someday will be overturned. Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas will someday join Roger B. Taney in the history books.
I am not a lawyer. But the Constitution is written for the citizens, not the citizens who are also lawyers.