This is a good thing for con law profs (and imho property law profs) to do. It is a useful exercise for law students to wrestle with the law of slavery to instill an appropriate skepticism about the placid assumption that justice and rule of law are coterminous concepts.
Today I am teaching Prigg v. Pennsylvania, which may be worse and more influential than Dred Scott. It radicalized countless normies into becoming abolitionists and provided constitutional cover for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. I want to call out a thing about it that doesn’t get much attention.
Feb 5, 2026 17:52I loved my con law prof, but we didn't discuss Prigg & only lightly discussed Dred Scott (as anti-canon). My law school exposure to the topic of the law of slavery came from stumbling across a copy of "The Dred Scott Case" by Don Fehrenbacher at a used bookstore. It was an important education.
