Very interesting, thanks for instructing me on this.
Again I'll note the most curious fact that while Taney opposed Lincoln on the 1863 Prize Cases, the fifth and deciding vote for Lincoln came from Georgian James Wayne, whose son was a Confederate General.
What are we to make of that?
DoodleDawg: "An odd view at times to be sure.
But in that he was no different than current justices like Sotomayor or Roberts."
Most curious that you would cite Sotomayor & Roberts as paragons of constitutional rectitude.
I would have though maybe Scalia and Thomas better examples...
Actually I cited them as prime examples of what Taney was. Someone who acted in a way that they thought the Constitution required, but whose interpretation of the Constitution was somewhat puzzling at best. Witness Taney's interpretation that blacks were not and could never be citizens. Where is that a whole lot different than Robert's ruling that Obamacare was a tax and therefore Constitutional? Both men invented meanings out of thin air to suit their personal prejudices or agendas.