Merryman, Ex Parte

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Merryman, Ex Parte. The Merryman case, 17 Federal Cases 144 (Circuit Court Md. 1861) (No. 9487), raised fundamental questions regarding military authority over civilians and the president's emergency powers in wartime. Upon his arrest and detention during the Civil War by Union military officials in May 1861, John Merryman, a civilian Confederate sympathizer in Maryland, petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. U.S. Chief Justice Roger Taney issued the writ, challenging President Abraham Lincoln's suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Following the president's order, the commanding officer refused to bring Merryman before a civil court. Outraged, Taney issued a forceful opinion denying the president's power to suspend the privilege and insisting that Article I of the U.S. Constitution granted the power to suspend habeas corpus to Congress alone. Lincoln, however, ordered the army not to obey Taney's writ, later asserting that the president and Congress shared the power to suspend habeas corpus.
[See also Civil‐Military Relations: Civilian Control of the Military; Commander in Chief, President as; Habeas Corpus Act (1863); Martial Law; Milligan, Ex Parte.]

Bibliography

James G. Randall , Constitutional Problems Under Lincoln, 1926.
Mark E. Neely, Jr. , The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, 1991.

Mary J. Farmer

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