Evah! I wonder how much Taney was paid by the Southern Slave Power.
Marylander Roger Taney was a Jacksonian Democrat who manumitted his own slaves in the 1820s.
But Taney's opinions on Africans were as racist as possible and he did not believe they deserved rights of citizenship.
So Dred Scott was not out of character based on Taney's previous decisions.
It appears that Taney's decision needed only permission from the newly elected President, Doughfaced Pennsylvania Democrat James Buchanan, permission Buchanan was happy to give.