Existing comment:
Martial Law: Military Trials of Civilians:
With many northerners having southern sympathies during the Civil War, the Lincoln Administration declared martial law across the Union. The military was authorized to arrest civilians for suspicion of treason and establish commissions to hold trials and issue sentences, including death. Objections to civilians being subject to military trial were raised, with two notable cases reaching the Supreme Court: Ex Parte Vallandigham (1864) and Ex Parte Milligan (1866).
Voices of Dissent:
Clement L. Vallandigham, a former Ohio Congressman, was arrested in May 1863 after a series of anti-war speeches. A military commission convicted him and sentenced him to prison, but Lincoln ordered him sent across enemy lines instead. The following year, Lambdin P. Milligan was arrested by the military in southern Indiana, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the federal government by another commission, and sentenced to death. In separate appeals to the Supreme Court, their lawyers argued that military trials of civilians were illegal when the civil courts were open.
"During the late wicked Rebellion, the temper of the times did not allow that calmness in deliberation and discussion so necessary to correct conclusion of a purely judicial question. Then, considerations of safety were mingled with the exercise of power... Now, that the public safety is assured, [questions] can be discussed and decided without a passion..."
-- Justice David Davis
No Jurisdiction:
In early 1864, Vallandigham's case reached the Supreme Court. The government's attorneys argued the Court lacked jurisdiction to review appeals from military tribunals. The Justices agreed and the appeal was denied, ending the case. Two years later, when the appeal from Milligan's sentence came before the Court, the government again argued that the Court should not hear appeals from military tribunals, largely based on its decision in Ex Parte Vallandigham.
The Copperhead Party:
As the war continued, the federal government became increasingly concerned with "Copperheads," those with anti-war sentiments living within the northern state. Some Copperheads were pro-secession as well, spurring offshoot organizations that supported the Southern cause. Suspicious, the Union began to look closely for suspected traitors, like Valladigham and Milligan, in their midst.
Harper's Weekly, February 28, 1863.
The Court's dismissal of the Vallandigham appeal was considered a victory for the Lincoln Administration because it allowed the wartime policies, restricting civil liberties to continue. When Milligan was decided in 1866, however, the war was over and a unanimous Court now found it did have jurisdiction to review such appeals. Justice David Davis' majority opinion declared that the military commissions had been illegal "when the courts are open, and in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction." This opinion set an important legal landmark for the future use of military commissions. |