Chief Justice Roberts looks at Dred Scott in UT-Austin lecture

Earlier this month Chief Justice John Roberts came to Austin to deliver a keynote address at the 2007 Tex Lezar Memorial Lecture - on the 157th anniversary of Daniel Webster's famous speech in support of the 1850 Compromise on slavery, he noted, that delayed the Civil War but ultimately ruined Webster's political career.

Roberts' remarks focused on the characters involved and implications of the famous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, particularly regarding the need for courts to demonstrate "institutional humility." You can watch streaming video of the half-hour lecture.

NEXT MORNING UPDATE: While on the subject of slavery, this blogger more or less sums up my views on the proposal that Texas now apologize for the practice - I could name 50 more pressing issues the Lege should be addressing without breaking a sweat. Another blogger yesterday discussed a Methodist abolitionist martyr from West Texas (whose descendants, one supposes, wouldn't be required to apologize). And since Justice Roberts was keen on anniversaries, it's worth mentioning that this morning (3/26) is the anniversary of the Texans' pivotal defeat during the Civil War at the Battle of Glorieta Pass. Meanwhile, this blogger offfers us a little known Civil War story from Brownsville in the March 26, 1863 edition of a Corpus Christi newspaper, The Ranchero.