Existing comment:
Court in Turmoil:
Resignation!
"A resigned judge of the Supreme Court of the United States!! Resigned -- and for a cause that he is hardly more than half in sympathy with. His is one of the hardest cases."
-- Mary Boykin Chesnut
In early 1861, as the secessionist movement spread, the Justices from southern states faced a decision: remain on the Court or resign and return to their home states. Justice John A. Campbell of Alabama hoped to prevent the war and acted as an intermediary between the newly formed Confederacy and the Lincoln Administration. When the effort failed and war erupted, Campbell resigned. Later, Campbell served as the Confederate Assistant Secretary of War and was one of the Southern commissioners at the failed Hampton Roads Peace Conference of 1865.
Patriots or Traitors?
"I shall expect to be misunderstood and misjudged, but I shall leave posterity to do me justice."
-- Justice John M. Wayne
Two other southern Justices, James M. Wayne of Georgia and John Catron of Tennessee, remained on the Court. Justice Wayne was unable to travel to his judicial circuit in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and his home state declared him an "alien enemy." Justice Catron was able to hold some circuit court sessions in Kentucky and Missouri, but when he went to Tennessee he was forced to leave his home in Nashville. Northern papers praised the long-serving Justices as patriots for their loyalty while Southern papers branded them traitors.
The Daily Work of the Court:
The Civil War disrupted many aspects of life in the Union, but legal issues continued to reach the Court. As armies fought, the Justices handed down more than 250 decisions, toiling over routine matters ranging from long-standing property disputes to settlements over lost cargos from ship collisions. The nation's westward expansion continued to add railroad-related cases while land title disputes from California also filled the docket. When not in Washington, the Justices attended to their circuit court duties in sections of the country not affected by the war. At the circuit courts, they encountered cases more directly related to the war, such as prize capture, draft issues, and appeals for habeas corpus relief. |