State Attorneys General

Who Should Get The Blame For The Now-Infamous Dred Scott Citation?

My theory is Westlaw...

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Thinking man and question markThe answer is Westlaw… definitely Westlaw.

Earlier this week, the Kansas Solicitor General Stephen McAllister made the fateful decision to defend Dred Scott‘s insightful take on the limits of personal freedom. As one might imagine, as soon as this came to the attention of someone in the Kansas government with a 5th grade proficiency in history — which frighteningly took 24 hours — Kansas scrambled to take it back.

Ultimately, the responsibility should fall on McAllister who drives this trainwreck of a litigation. He’s the one vested with the authority of the state of Kansas and the one pulling off the seemingly impossible of making Missouri look not so bad by comparison (no, not really).

On the other hand, what about Shon D. Qualseth of Thompson Ramsdell Qualseth & Warner, who technically signed the brief along with Jeffrey A. Chanay, the Chief Deputy Attorney General of Kansas? Presumably these signatories actually wrote the thing.

But for the real culprit, I refer to a clever quip someone made on Facebook last night:

“In the Kansas SG’s defense, how often are you going to get to use ‘overturned on other grounds by Civil War’ in the case history?”

Yeah, Westlaw really should use the “Stars and Bars” flag on that.

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That’d prevent these embarrassing incidents going forward. Get right on that for WestlawNextNext or whatever we’re calling the new release.

Earlier: You Don’t See Dred Scott Cited Approvingly Everyday

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re int

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