Ex parte Merryman
Ex parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 (1861) is a well-known U.S. federal court case.
Against President Abraham Lincoln?s wishes, Chief Justice Roger Taney, sitting as a judge of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Maryland, ruled that the writ of habeas corpus may not be suspended by the President without Congressional authorization, even in wartime or other extreme emergency.
The case arose out of the American Civil War.
Shortly after the April 12-14 1861 bombardment of Fort Sumter by Confederate forces, President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteer troops to reinforce Washington against possible hostilities originating in nearby Virginia. When "loosely organized and armed abolitionists from Massachusetts" (Poole) responded to the call and entered Baltimore, Maryland on their way to the capital, a riot broke out. Several civilians and soldiers were killed when shooting began. That same day, Lincoln wrote to Attorney General Edward Bates, requesting an opinion on the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Also in response to the riots, Mayor Brown of Baltimore and Maryland Governor Hicks declared that they would allow no more troop transfers to go through their territory, and gathered five hundred thousand dollars "for the defense of the city". (Poole)
Lieutenant John Merryman, an officer in the Maryland cavalry, was part of the escort that ejected Union General Wynkoop and his Pennsylvanian forces from Maryland. He took a lead role in demolishing a bridge, so as to block any further troop movements. This was, nonetheless, probably more due to general dislike for the Union and hesitancy to become involved in the war than actual secessionist sentiment. (Poole)
While reluctant to do so, Lincoln eventually took the advice of his staff and wrote a letter to General George Winfield Scott on April 27, 1861. In it, he allowed Scott (or an empowered subordinate) to suspend habeas corpus within the vicinity of the "military line" (Lincoln). This suspension was not announced, and was in fact carefully kept secret at first. By May, however, numerous delegates of the Maryland legislature had been arrested without grounded or even stated charges. Still, the suspension was not explicitly acknowledged. Merryman was at about this time also arrested and imprisoned at Fort McHenry. He swiftly protested this imprisonment and filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to release him from arbitrary imprisonment. (Poole)
Merryman's complaint went to the circuit judge of the area. As a cost-cutting measure, the Justices of the Supreme Court had been given posts as circuit judges while the Supreme Court was not in session. (This practice ("circuit riding") was effectively ended in 1869.) (Hall 145) For this reason, Merryman's complaint was heard by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. (Poole)
The clash between Taney and the various generals who essentially represented Lincoln is a good example of the conflict between idealism and pragmatism that characterizes much of the debate on this topic. Taney went by the lawbooks, and understandably raged against Lincoln spontaneously and unconstitutionally granting himself easily abused powers. Taney showed beyond the shadow of a doubt that Lincoln's actions were entirely contrary to written law. The real question, which Taney also addressed, was whether or not it was practically permissible for a President to take such actions. He argued that it was not, angrily observing that none of the Kings of England exercised such power, and that therefore in this respect Lincoln was proving more monarchical and despotic than any actual English monarch. He closed his argumentation with the following fiery language:
These great and fundamental laws, which congress itself could not suspend, have been disregarded and suspended, like the writ of habeas corpus, by a military order, supported by force of arms. Such is the case now before me, and I can only say that if the authority which the constitution has confided to the judiciary department and judicial officers, may thus, upon any pretext or under any circumstances, be usurped by the military power, at its discretion, the people of the United States are no longer living under a government of laws, but every citizen holds life, liberty and property at the will and pleasure of the army officer in whose military district he may happen to be found.
(Merryman)
Lincoln, as Jackson before him, simply disregarded the ruling. He rhetorically asked Congress on July 4th, "Are all the laws, but one, to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated?" In fact, he expanded the zone within which the writ was suspended. (Rehnquist) The Habeas Corpus Act of March 3, 1863 retroactively supported Lincoln. In the 1861 "
