What is Roger Taney?
{{Infobox officeholder | name=Roger Brooke Taney | image=Roger Taney - Healy.jpg | order=5th | title=[[Chief Justice of the United States]] | term_start= March 28, 1836 | term_end= October 12, 1864 | nominator=[[Andrew Jackson]] | predecessor=[[John Marshall]] | successor=[[Salmon P. Chase]] | order2=12th | title2=[[United States Secretary of the Treasury]] | president2=[[Andrew Jackson]] | term_start2= September 23, 1833 | term_end2= June 25, 1834 | predecessor2= [[William John Duane]] | successor2=[[Levi Woodbury]] | order3=11th | title3=[[United States Attorney General]] | president3=[[Andrew Jackson]] | term_start3= July 20, 1831 | term_end3= November 14, 1833 | predecessor3=[[John M. Berrien]] | successor3=[[Benjamin Franklin Butler (lawyer)|Benjamin Franklin Butler]] | birth_date={{birth date|1777|3|17|mf=y}} | birth_place=[[Calvert County, Maryland]], [[United States|U.S.]] | death_date={{death date and age|1864|10|12|1777|03|17}} | death_place=[[Washington, D.C.]], [[United States|U.S.]] | party=[[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]], [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] | spouse=Anne Arnold Phoebe Charlton Key Taney | profession=[[Politician]], [[Lawyer]], [[Judge]] | alma_mater = [[Dickinson College]] }} '''Roger Brooke Taney''' (March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was the fifth [[Chief Justice of the United States]] [[Supreme Court]] from 1836 until his death in 1864. He came after [[John Marshall]] and despite the many influential things done by his predecessor, still was able to write several major opinions. His decision in Dred Scott to send a slave living in a [[Slave and free states|free state]] back to his master in a [[slave state]] canceled out several [[compromise]]s that had been keeping the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] together. When president [[Abraham Lincoln]] began using powers not normally given to the presidency to put certain rights on hold, Taney kept on trying to overrule him. These attempts were ignored and rumored to have almost led to Taney's arrest.