Basic Information
Name: Roger Brooke Taney
Nickname: the Taney Owl
Born: March 17, 1777
Died: October 12, 1864
Nationality: American
Hometown: Calvert County, MD
WORK & EDUCATION
Occupation: senator, U.S. Attorney General, Secretary of the Treasury, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Education: Dickinson College
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Parents: Michael Taney V, Monica Taney
Siblings: Michael, Dorothy, Sophia, Octavius, Augustus, and another sister whose name seems lost to history.
Spouse: Anne Key (fun fact: she was the sister of Francis Scott Key, a.k.a. Mr. Star-Spangled Banner)
Children: Anne, Elizabeth, Ellen, Augustus, Sophia, Maria, and Alice
Friends: Andrew Jackson
Foes: Abraham Lincoln, the North
Analysis
If people know one thing about Roger Taney (pronounced "TAW-nee"), it's that he issued the most notorious—if not the flat-out worst—Supreme Court decision of all time. (Well, we all want to be remembered for something, right?)
Taney's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford figures prominently in Lincoln's "House Divided" speech, as it had happened only months before. Looking at Taney's greater career though, it just makes his ruling more confusing.
Banking on Jackson
Taney was part of a large Maryland tobacco-farming family. Back in the day, since he wasn't the oldest son, he wouldn't have been able to inherit any of the family property. So he went into law and politics instead, quickly making it into the Maryland legislature as a Federalist (that's right, those were still a thing when Taney was young). By the 1820s, he was based in Baltimore and enjoyed a successful law career thanks to his sense of courtesy and fairness. (Source)
Told you it would get confusing.
Then Taney fell in with Andrew Jackson, which really brought him into the federal sphere. Jackson made him U.S. Attorney General after Taney supported his election, and Taney then helped Jackson in his epic battle against the national bank, which led Jackson to unsuccessfully nominate his buddy to be Secretary of the Treasury.
Taney thought the national bank was controlled by eastern financial interests who had abused their powers. The fight made him a national figure, for better or for worse. The enemies the two of them earned while they took down the bank (a.k.a. The Man) included powerful figures like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. When Jackson first tried to nominate his friend to the Supreme Court in 1835, it was blocked. Lucky for them, the Chief Justice died the following year, and they managed to get Taney into the position. (Source)
If at first you don't succeed…just be patient, someone will die eventually.
Reigning Supreme
Taney was really into the question of how power was distributed between state and federal governments. He started out very pro-states' rights, leading a minority of justices, but eventually moved over to support federal rights over state most of the time. (Source)
His most significant decisions hinged on his very specific, often quite literal interpretations of the constitution. For example, in the 1837 case Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, he ruled that rights not specifically listed in a government charter could not be inferred or implied It's got to be right there in writing, or no dice. (Source)
He also really, really believed that the Constitution was only for white people. He seemed to be convinced that the Founders Fathers couldn't possibly have meant Black people to be included as citizens of the U.S., even if the more modern 19th-century population thought they should be.
He definitely enforced the rules for white people—in one case, he allowed a murder case to be brought against a white man had killed someone on Native American territory, which was not under federal jurisdiction. Taney's philosophy was: you get the privileges given to white people, you get the punishments as well. (Source)
A devout Catholic (the first one on the Supreme Court), Taney reportedly was actually against slavery as a practice. However, he believed in a more gradual solution based in the states rather than in Congress. So basically, he was against slavery…but thought that the Founding Fathers didn't think Blacks should be citizens. (Source)
Clear as mud, right?
Roger That
Under Taney's leadership of the Supreme Court, the power of the federal government's power over corporations, foreign relations, and territory was strengthened, despite decisions like Dred Scott v. Sandford. (Source)
Taney himself, to probably no one's surprise, did not have a good relationship with Abraham Lincoln, whom he swore in as president. Lincoln completely defied Taney's attempt to block his suspension of habeus corpus, and the Chief Justice was pretty much a national villain by his death in 1864. (Source)
In fact, his passing at the time seemed to cause more celebration than sadness. Ouch. (Source)
He was apparently a gentle guy who was scared of crowds and got stage fright in court. (Source) Nowadays, his career in its entirety is more widely recognized for its influence and his positive leadership for cases resolving issues of economics or the separation of political powers. (Source)
He remains, though, the villain of the Dred Scott decision. His consistent refusal of Black citizenship makes it difficult to see him in a positive light, but when you dive deeper it seems like the guy was pretty conflicted himself. Regardless, his decision in 1857 sent a shockwave through the U.S., and helped bring the country one big step closer to war.
But, you have to admit, the image of lawyer getting stage fright in court is kind of hilarious.