Scott v. Sandford (1857), the DredScott decision, is the consensus choice as the worstdecision in the Supreme Court's history. Legal scholar David Curriesummarized the conventional view: Dred Scott was“bad law,” “bad policy,” and “bad judicial politics” (cited inJudges, p. 15). In this conventional view,Chief Justice Roger Taney's opinion for the Court misinterpreted theConstitution, and it took the morally indefensible position ofdisallowing citizenship and the rights of citizens for slaves andtheir descendants. The decision was also a political blunder: TheCourt intervened in the slavery issue in an effort to resolve it andprevent war, but instead inflamed passions and made war morelikely.