Existing comment:
Taney's Opinion:
Among the alleged rebel sympathizers was John Merryman, a Maryland farmer who was imprisoned at Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor in May 1861. Merryman's lawyers asked Chief Justice Taney to issue a writ of habeas corpus. When the Fort's commander refused to obey the writ, Taney issued an opinion openly criticizing the President, arguing that only Congress could suspend the writ under the Constitution.
Lincoln's Reaction:
Lincoln ignored Taney's opinion but knew that suspending the writ was controversial. In a subsequent message to Congress, he argued that the Framers of the Constitution had intended for the President to do all things necessary to preserve the Union against a rebellion, including suspending habeas corpus. He was only doing his duty to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution and could not wait for Congress to convene while the Union was destroyed.
Habeas Corpus:
A write of habeas corpus (Latin for "to have the body") allows a prisoner to challenge the lawfulness of imprisonment before a court, a long-standing cornerstone of personal freedom. Under Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, this privilege may only be suspended "when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."
Taney's passionate defense of habeas corpus made headlines, some praising him and others calling his actions disloyal. Merryman remained in Fort McHenry until the crisis near Baltimore passed, when he was released to a federal marshal to face treason charges in court. He posted bail and was released, but the case never came to trial. Ultimately, in 1863, Congress passed the Habeas Corpus Act giving the President the authority to suspend the writ throughout the country. Over the course of the war, the Union would detain thousands of people suspected of disloyalty.
"I can see no ground whatever for supposing that the president, in any emergency, or in any state of things, can authorize the suspension of the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus..."
-- Chief Justice Roger B. Taney
"Are all the laws but one, to be go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces lest that one be violated?"
-- President Abraham Lincoln |