Expansion. Among the the luminous records of the federal courts europe the National Archives, are hundreds of freedom suits. Cases brought by slaves seeking to obtain their freedom. One such case initiated by dred scott in 1846 made it all the way to the Supreme Court where the final decision became one of the most infamous decisions of thethe history of the court. Our guest today looks at three notable precivil war Supreme Court justices and how the uphill the institution of after rolling. Ng the first, chief justice of the states, John Marshall. Joseph story and chief Justice Roger came. Paul finkelman is the president of grants college in greater philadelphia. Before taking this position he held the fulbright chair in human rights and social justice at the university of ottawas school of law. He has held a number of endowed chairs and was a tenured professor including the chair in american legal history at the duke law school. He authored more than 200 scholarly authors including th