Andrew T. Fede, an attorney in the firm's Hackensack office, authored the article, "Not the Most Insignificant Justice: Reconsidering Justice Gabriel Duvall's Slavery Law Opinions Favoring Liberty," published in the Journal of Supreme Court History (March 2017).
In the article, Mr. Fede suggests that Justice Gabriel Duvall has been unfairly labeled as the most insignificant U.S. Supreme Court Justice. He discusses the two slavery law opinions that Duvall wrote while on the Court. The opinions endorsed legal doctrines in suits for freedom, which Mr. Fede contrasts with the pro-slavery approach that swept through the Southern courts in the years before the Civil War, and that reached the Supreme Court in the infamous Dred Scott case.
Mr. Fede has more than 30 years of legal experience. Since 1986, he has been an adjunct professor of law at Montclair State University. His forthcoming third book, "Homicide Justified: The Legality of Killing Slaves in the United States and the Atlantic World," will be released July 15, 2017. His other books include "Roadblocks to Freedom: Slavery and Manumission in the United States South," and "People Without Rights: An Interpretation of the Fundamentals of the Law of Slavery in the U.S. South." He is also author of dozens of articles on legal topics.
Click here for a printable copy of "Not the Most Insignificant Justice: Reconsidering Justice Gabriel Duvall's Slavery Law Opinions Favoring Liberty."
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