1857Dred Scott, the enslaved plaintiff in the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, was emancipated by his original owners. Scott unsuccessfully sued for his family’s freedom, but the U.S. Supreme Court famously held that Scott did not have standing to sue in federal court because he was not a citizen and that Scott’s temporary residence in a free state did not entitle him to emancipation on grounds it would “improperly deprive Scott’s owner of his legal property.”1987The U.S. Supreme Court ruled …