Trump v. Barbara · ¶202

Justices McLean and Curtis dissented. Justice McLean would have ruled that Scott was “a citizen of Missouri” because he had a “permanent domicil in the State.” Id., at 531. As he stated the law of citizenship, “[b]eing a freeman, and having his domicil in a State different from that of the defendant, he is a citizen.” Ibid. Likewise, Justice Curtis took the position, common at the time, see Part I–A, supra, that national citizenship was simply based on state citizenship. 19 How., at 581–582. He said that birthplace alone is not sufficient to be a national citizen, but that a person must be both born here and a citizen of a State. “[T]hose persons born within the several States, who . . . are citizens of the State, are thereby citizens of the United States.” Id., at 582. State citizenship, of course, was based on domicile. See Part I–A, supra. Justice Curtis thus agreed that Scott was a…

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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