Roger B. Taney was the Supreme Court justice in the Dred Scott vs. Sandford case that wrote the majority opinion for this case. In his majority opinion, he wrote how slaves are property, not people, and have no rights which the "white man" are bound to respect. Along with this, he said that slaves are not citizens and have no legal rights. With this ruling in mind, it essentially made it so slave owners could bring their slaves to any part of the US they want. Since this is a federal case, it would triumph any state laws that outlaw slavery. This caused significant tension between Northerners and Southerners as Northerners were against this ruling while Southerners, especially slave owners, fully supported it.