True, he never made such a ruling in a case that came before him. And some would argue that if you are looking for allies to make your case, well, invoking Taney's name dredges up a fair amount of historical baggage - even if he did write a brilliant draft opinion. But nonetheless, this find by Will Baude sounds fascinating and should be of interest to people interested in the politics of the Civil War and/or the issue of the draft in the 21st century. Clearly the draft isn't going to be ruled unconstitutional by the courts today - but it's interesting to think of the effects of this argument if it had come down as a ruling of the Court shortly before Taney's death.
Posted by armand at March 30, 2005 09:48 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Law and the Courts