Two people with ties to a fraught history gathered last week in the nation's capital.What binds them is a Supreme Court case from 1857, when a man named Dred Scott sued for his freedom.Lynne Jackson is Scott's great-great-granddaughter.Charlie Taney is the great-great-grandnephew of former Chief Justice Roger Taney, the man who wrote the infamous Dred Scott opinion that helped provoke the Civil War.The pair of descendants came together at St.
Mark's Episcopal Church, just steps away from the Supreme Court, at a time when the country and the court are once again considering the role race plays in the law and what it means to be an American.Charlie Taney said he and his family struggled with the legacy of their ancestor, who wrote in the opinion that enslaved people are not American citizens."He actually participated in a lot of important law…and our family's proud of that," Taney said."But unfortunately he also authored what is commonly thought of as the single worst decision in the history of the Court.
It's been called odious."Taney cringed as he quoted from that decision, which called Black people "inferior" and "altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations."The 14th Amendment adopted after the Civil War essentially overruled the Dred Scott decision and affirmed virtually all babies born here are Americans.The question surfaced again, nearly 160 years later, when President Trump tried to limit birthright citizenship with an executive order when he returned to the White House in 2025.Tensions over race and history are familiar for Lynne Jackson, who now runs a foundation in Missouri to honor Dred Scott and his effort to vindicate his rights."This was a major catalyst for the Civil War," she said.In a landmark ruling on the final day of its term last week, the Supreme Court said almost all babies born on U.S.
soil should count as citizens.In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts suggested arguments by the...