The second half of this excerpt explains their decision regarding citizenship. What is the majority opinion in this matter? "The question is simply this: can a negro whose ancestors were imported into this country and sold as slaves become a member of the political
community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges.
and immunities, guarantied by that instrument to the citizen, one of which rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases
specified in the Constitution?
We think they are not, and that they are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, and can
therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, they
were at that time considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings who had been subjugated by the dominant race, and whether emancipated
or not, yet remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the Government might choose
to grant them."