A Comparative analysis of Roger B Taney and William Rehnquist :: essays papers

A Comparative analysis of Roger B Taney and William Rehnquist Roger b. Taney and William Rehnquist are two Supreme Court Justices separated by a time span of one hundred and fifty years. This distance between them means that while they may share the same views on some political issues, the majority of them will differ. Such differences have had and everlasting impact on the United States and made Taney and Rehnquist two highly recognized historical figures. In his early years, Rehnquist fluctuated between moderate and conservative tendencies. Taney on the other hand, was just the opposite. He seemed intent on agitating the conservatives with his outlandish opinions. One such opinion was delivered in the Charles River Bridge case in which Taney declared that " A state charter of a private business conferred only privileges expressly granted and that any ambiguity must be decided in favor of the state." This outraged conservatives who opposed any modification of the view that state issued charters are inviolable. Taney's action would have been opposed by Rehnquist if he had been alive at that time because he shares the views of conservatives meaning that he favors little or no change in the way that things are done. Rehnquist's conservatism and Taney's Democratic ways have led to many of the historic decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Although Taney and Rehnquist wanted things to be done at different rates, they shared a common bond when it came to the limitations on federal interference in the affairs of state governments. Taney felt that a state should be entitled to make regulatory laws even if they appeared to override the provisions of the Constitution. When it came to federal interference with the states Rehnquist believed that the federal government should stay out of the way until needed. On the same note, Rehnquist held that executive agencies should be given considerable leeway in carrying out laws. These similar views provide insight into how the nation was shaped. Roger B. Taney made significant contributions to American constitutional law, but the case most closely associated with him inflicted enormous injury to the court as an institution was the Dred Scott v. Sanford case of 1857. Taney held that "Slaves (and even the free descendants of slaves) were not citizens and could not sue in court, ant that Congress could not forbid slavery in the territories of the United States".