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| Monday May 27, 1861 |
Chief Justice William B. Taney ruled that the military arrest of John
Merryman of Maryland had violated the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus and that the President did not have the authority
to suspend this privilege. The case arose out of the arrest of
Merryman for allegedly recruiting for a Confederate regiment and
his imprisonment by General Cadwalader in Baltimore. Ex Parte
Merryman became a highly debated case. Cadwalader claimed
that the President had authorized him to suspend the writ in such
cases. President Lincoln later held he had the power of such
suspension in certain cases and continued to exercise it. His
grounds were that the Constitution provided for suspension in
cases of rebellion or invasion where public safety required it.