Okla-homey
5/25/2007, 07:00 AM
May 25, 1861: President Lincoln suspends the privilege of habeas corpus during the Civil War
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/17773/2003704922680720266_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003704922680720266)
The man believed he had to do whatever he had to do to save the country
146 years ago, on this day in 1861, rebel John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War. Merryman was also an officer in a Maryland secessionist militia organization. Merryman was then locked up in the military hoosgow at Fort McHenry at Baltimore by Federal military officials.
Merryman's attorney, being the dedicated legal professional he was, immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges and a judge could decide if Merryman should be held or tried.
In common law, habeas corpus (/'heɪbiəs 'kɔɹpəs/) (Latin: [We command that] you have the body) is the name of a legal action (or writ) by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. The writ of habeas corpus has historically been an important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state action.
Known as the "Great Writ," a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum is a court order addressed to a prison official (or other custodian) ordering that a prisoner be brought before the court so that the court can determine whether that person is serving a lawful sentence or should be released from custody. The prisoner, or some other person on his behalf (for example, where the prisoner is being held incommunicado), may petition the court or an individual judge for a writ of habeas corpus.
President Lincoln, himself an attorney understood all the stuff above, however, faced with a nation falling apart at the seams, Lincoln decided to suspend operation of "The Great Writ," otherwise known as "the privilege of habeas corpus," (Art. I, Sec. 9) as was arguably his perogative under the Constitution given the ongoing rebellion. Therefore, the commanding general at Fort McHenry obeyed his commander-in-chief and refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities.
Federal judge Roger Taney, also a Marylander, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (and also the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision which, among other things, held that "once a slave always a slave,") issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend the consitutional privilege of habeas corpus.
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/15981/2003742486490794360_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003742486490794360)
Chief Justice Taney
It read in part:
'In the matter of the petition of John Merryman, for a writ of habeas corpus: Ordered, this 26th day of May, A. D. 1861, that the writ of habeas corpus issue in this case, as prayed, and that the same be directed to General George Cadwalader, and be issued in the usual form, by Thomas Spicer, clerk of the circuit court of the United States in and for the district of Maryland, and that the said writ of habeas corpus be returnable at eleven o'clock, on Monday, the 27th of May 1861, at the circuit court room, in the Masonic Hall, in the city of Baltimore, before me, chief justice of the supreme court of United States. R. B. Taney.'
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/16390/2003781415787236391_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003781415787236391)
The next day, having received the order from Chief Justice Taney, the commanding general at Ft McHenry responded in part:
[Mr. Merryman] is charged with various acts of treason, and with being publicly associated with and holding a commission as lieutenant in a company having in their possession arms belonging to the United States, and avowing his purpose of armed hostility against the government. He is also informed that it can be clearly established, that the prisoner has made often and unreserved declarations of his association with this organized force, as being in avowed hostility to the government, and in readiness to cooperate with those engaged in the present rebellion against the government of the United States. He has further to inform you, that he is duly authorized by the president of the United States, in such cases, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, for the public safety. This is a high and delicate trust, and it has been enjoined upon him that it should be executed with judgment and discretion, but he is nevertheless also instructed that in times of civil strife, errors, if any, should be on the side of the safety of the country. He most respectfully submits for your consideration, that those who should cooperate in the present trying and painful position in which our country is placed, should not, by any unnecessary want of confidence in each other, increase our embarrassments. He, therefore, respectfully requests that you will postpone further action upon this case, until he can receive instructions from the president of the United States, when you shall hear further from him. I have the honor to be, with high respect, your obedient servant, George Cadwalader, Brevet Major General U. S. A. Commanding.'
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/17773/2003708163420016771_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003708163420016771)
George Cadwalader...apparently he did not own a comb.
IOW, the President ignored the ruling. That's right, he blew it off. Plain and simple. Lincoln didn't respond, appeal, or order the release of Merryman. But during a July 4, 1861 speech, Lincoln was defiant, insisting that he needed to suspend the rules in order to put down the insurrection in the South which threatened to destory the country.
It's worth noting that in the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis also suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law. This was in part to maintain order and spur industrial growth in the South to compensate for the economic loss inflicted by its secession.
Five years later, a new Supreme Court essentially backed Justice Taney's ruling: In an unrelated case, the court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that American civilians were not subject to military courts, even in time of war. Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866.)
This Merryman piccadillo was not the first or last time that the U.S. federal government willfully ignored its own laws during times of strife. In the early 1870s, President U.S. Grant suspended habeas corpus in nine counties in South Carolina, as part of federal civil rights action against the Ku Klux Klan under the 1870 Force Act and 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act.
Much later, under an executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, hundreds of thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry were sent to internment camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into World War II.
Some forty years later, a U.S. congressional commission determined that those held in the camps had been victims of discrimination. Each camp survivor was awarded $20,000 in compensation from the U.S. government. It was admittedly a pittance, given what many lost in terms of established businesses and other property, but it was a nice gesture nonetheless.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/16543/2003713057437995568_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003713057437995568)
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/17773/2003704922680720266_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003704922680720266)
The man believed he had to do whatever he had to do to save the country
146 years ago, on this day in 1861, rebel John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War. Merryman was also an officer in a Maryland secessionist militia organization. Merryman was then locked up in the military hoosgow at Fort McHenry at Baltimore by Federal military officials.
Merryman's attorney, being the dedicated legal professional he was, immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges and a judge could decide if Merryman should be held or tried.
In common law, habeas corpus (/'heɪbiəs 'kɔɹpəs/) (Latin: [We command that] you have the body) is the name of a legal action (or writ) by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. The writ of habeas corpus has historically been an important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state action.
Known as the "Great Writ," a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum is a court order addressed to a prison official (or other custodian) ordering that a prisoner be brought before the court so that the court can determine whether that person is serving a lawful sentence or should be released from custody. The prisoner, or some other person on his behalf (for example, where the prisoner is being held incommunicado), may petition the court or an individual judge for a writ of habeas corpus.
President Lincoln, himself an attorney understood all the stuff above, however, faced with a nation falling apart at the seams, Lincoln decided to suspend operation of "The Great Writ," otherwise known as "the privilege of habeas corpus," (Art. I, Sec. 9) as was arguably his perogative under the Constitution given the ongoing rebellion. Therefore, the commanding general at Fort McHenry obeyed his commander-in-chief and refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities.
Federal judge Roger Taney, also a Marylander, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (and also the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision which, among other things, held that "once a slave always a slave,") issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend the consitutional privilege of habeas corpus.
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/15981/2003742486490794360_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003742486490794360)
Chief Justice Taney
It read in part:
'In the matter of the petition of John Merryman, for a writ of habeas corpus: Ordered, this 26th day of May, A. D. 1861, that the writ of habeas corpus issue in this case, as prayed, and that the same be directed to General George Cadwalader, and be issued in the usual form, by Thomas Spicer, clerk of the circuit court of the United States in and for the district of Maryland, and that the said writ of habeas corpus be returnable at eleven o'clock, on Monday, the 27th of May 1861, at the circuit court room, in the Masonic Hall, in the city of Baltimore, before me, chief justice of the supreme court of United States. R. B. Taney.'
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/16390/2003781415787236391_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003781415787236391)
The next day, having received the order from Chief Justice Taney, the commanding general at Ft McHenry responded in part:
[Mr. Merryman] is charged with various acts of treason, and with being publicly associated with and holding a commission as lieutenant in a company having in their possession arms belonging to the United States, and avowing his purpose of armed hostility against the government. He is also informed that it can be clearly established, that the prisoner has made often and unreserved declarations of his association with this organized force, as being in avowed hostility to the government, and in readiness to cooperate with those engaged in the present rebellion against the government of the United States. He has further to inform you, that he is duly authorized by the president of the United States, in such cases, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, for the public safety. This is a high and delicate trust, and it has been enjoined upon him that it should be executed with judgment and discretion, but he is nevertheless also instructed that in times of civil strife, errors, if any, should be on the side of the safety of the country. He most respectfully submits for your consideration, that those who should cooperate in the present trying and painful position in which our country is placed, should not, by any unnecessary want of confidence in each other, increase our embarrassments. He, therefore, respectfully requests that you will postpone further action upon this case, until he can receive instructions from the president of the United States, when you shall hear further from him. I have the honor to be, with high respect, your obedient servant, George Cadwalader, Brevet Major General U. S. A. Commanding.'
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/17773/2003708163420016771_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003708163420016771)
George Cadwalader...apparently he did not own a comb.
IOW, the President ignored the ruling. That's right, he blew it off. Plain and simple. Lincoln didn't respond, appeal, or order the release of Merryman. But during a July 4, 1861 speech, Lincoln was defiant, insisting that he needed to suspend the rules in order to put down the insurrection in the South which threatened to destory the country.
It's worth noting that in the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis also suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law. This was in part to maintain order and spur industrial growth in the South to compensate for the economic loss inflicted by its secession.
Five years later, a new Supreme Court essentially backed Justice Taney's ruling: In an unrelated case, the court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that American civilians were not subject to military courts, even in time of war. Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866.)
This Merryman piccadillo was not the first or last time that the U.S. federal government willfully ignored its own laws during times of strife. In the early 1870s, President U.S. Grant suspended habeas corpus in nine counties in South Carolina, as part of federal civil rights action against the Ku Klux Klan under the 1870 Force Act and 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act.
Much later, under an executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, hundreds of thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry were sent to internment camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into World War II.
Some forty years later, a U.S. congressional commission determined that those held in the camps had been victims of discrimination. Each camp survivor was awarded $20,000 in compensation from the U.S. government. It was admittedly a pittance, given what many lost in terms of established businesses and other property, but it was a nice gesture nonetheless.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/16543/2003713057437995568_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003713057437995568)