Case Decided: March 6, 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) denied blacks citizenship under the Constitution and invalidated the Missouri Compromise, Congress’ effort to balance slave and free states. The Court’s 7-2 ruling held that a black man—no matter free or slave—could never be a U.S. citizen or sue in federal courts. Born a slave, Dred Scott traveled with his owner, army doctor John Emerson, from the slave state of Missouri to Illinois and Wisconsin (a free state and territory) before returning to St. Louis. Three years after Dr. Emerson died in 1843, Scott sued to win his freedom. He asserted that he became free once he set foot on free soil. Chief Justice Roger Taney, in his opinion for the Supreme Court, stated that Scott’s race barred him from citizenship and legal recourse. The Chief Justice further concluded that it was unconstitutional for an act of Congress to designate free territories. Taney intended his decision to solve the slavery question, but it had the opposite effect, further inflaming tensions between North and South and hastening the Civil War. It is widely regarded as the worst decision in the history of the Supreme Court.