Kansas Attorney General Apologizes for Citing Dred Scott to Defend Restrictions on Abortion

ABA Journal (Oct. 20, 2019): Kansas Attorney General Apologizes for Dred Scott Citation in Abortion Brief, by Debra Cassens Weiss:

Derek Schmidt, the Attorney General of Kansas, has apologized for an egregious lack of taste and good judgment in citing the United States Supreme Court's abominable Dred Scott decision in the brief he submitted to the Kansas Supreme Court court defending his state's restrictions on abortion.  The case was cited as support for banning all second-trimester abortions, a ban the lower courts reasoning was in violation of the Kansas Constitution's Bill of Rights.  Schmidt argued that the use of language from the Declaration of Independence in Kansas's Bill of Rights regarding  equality and inalienable rights is, like the Declaration itself, "merely aspirational."  Schmidt cited Dred Scott, the case denying African-Americans citizenship, in support of that proposition.