I think the second half of the ruling pertaining to the Missouri compromise is the product of Buchanan's meddling and his desire to "settle the issue" in this manner. We can establish that he was deeply involved in the case, to the extent that no President should ever be involved in the jurisprudence on the part of Supreme Court Justices, we know he corresponded with Taney and other Justices on the matter, that he directly swayed the opinions of at least one northern Democratic justice who was on the fence so that it wouldn't be a bunch of Southerners and a token Northerner forming the opinion, and his inaugural address even stated something to the effect of "The issue of slavery will soon be forever put to rest by the Supreme Court".
Wow, I didn't know that.
I think Buchanan now automatically rockets up to "number one worst President ever". Not that he was anywhere but safely ensconced in the Bottom 5 already, but this makes it so, so unambiguous.
I think Buchanan was always the worst in most historian rankings.
I've read about his correspondence with the justices as well... wasn't he trying to sway a fellow Pennsylvanian? The name escapes me.
