The Harm the Court Does

[Leslie F Goldstein]

I reply to Mark's comment,
Do you think this because you believe what the Supreme Court says about
the meaning of the Constitution shapes no one's view of it?  I.e., that
the court does not in fact function as the "republican schoolmaster"?  If
the Court does shape attitudes, even a little , then surely it must have
done some harm to tell all Americans that whites had no civic  obligation
to respect any rights of blacks.  Would this not have discouraged
prtection fo the life , liberty and property of free blacks, not to
mention their voting rights where they had them.  How can such a thing not
have been harmful?
Leslie
On Tue, 25 Jul 2000, Mark Graber wrote:

 Dred Scott caused absolutely no harm.

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