The Judiciary's Role in American Government: Landmark Cases

Today, Americans generally have tremendous respect for the Supreme Court. Yet, the Court's role was much less prominent in the nineteenth century. Although Marbury v. Madison established the principle of judicial review, not until 1857, in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, would the Court once again declare unconstitutional a law passed by Congress. In that case, widely regarded the most disastrous ruling ever issued by the Supreme Court, the justices ruled that black Americans were not citizens and could never become citizens of the U.S. Further, the Court ruled that, because slaves were property, Congress had no power to interfere with the institution of slavery or to prohibit its spread into the new territories and states of the West. Thus, the Court struck down the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which attempted to limit the extension of slavery into northern territories and states. Dred Scott v. Sandford proved a disaster because it made antislavery Americans view the Court as unwilling to allow any limits on slavery's expansion, suggesting that slavery need not be confined to the South, but could legally exist throughout the United States. Additionally, of course, the Court's decree that black Americans were ineligible for citizenship was repugnant to many Americans.