The Supreme Court begins by saying that the court originally favored a moderate decision which ruled in favor of Sanford but realized that it did not discuss the larger black citizenship laws. When Nelson presented his opinion his majority was actually just his belief so this was disregarded and there were two antislavery justices there. By February the Americans were well-informed and the conclusion was close. But there was a difference of opinion. Two days later after Buchanan's inauguration the justices came into the court room with the head being Justice Taney. They said that only that of slaves but also free blacks were sold as slaves and could not become entitled to all the rights and privileges because they weren't citizens. In Taney's opinion was that even free blacks were not citizens and should not be treated as such. The Constitution made no distinction between slaves and other types of property so Taney reasoned that the Missouri Compromise was not correct. It deprived slave holding citizens of their property in slaves and that it was unconstitutional. Finally he said that the slaves who have run away needed to be returned to their owner just like any other piece of property thus ruling in favor of Sanford.
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