This case involved the freedom of a single family that had been held as slaves, but it gave occasion to the Court for an exhaustive treatment of the political question which was engrossing public attention.
The conclusion of the best legal minds of the country was that the opinion of the Court went far beyond the real question at issue, and that many of its most important points were to be regarded as _obiter dicta_.

The Court declared that the Act of Congress prohibiting slavery in the Territories north of 36 deg.

30' was unconstitutional and void.

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was therefore approved by the highest judicial tribunal.

Not only was the repeal approved, its re-enactment was forbidden.