Ex parte Merryman

Ex parte Merryman was an 1861 circuit court ruling issued by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, sitting as a circuit judge, during the early weeks of the American Civil War. John Merryman, a Maryland militia officer accused of destroying railroad bridges to hinder the movement of Union troops through Baltimore, was arrested and held at Fort McHenry without formal charges. Taney issued a writ of habeas corpus ordering Merryman's release, and when the military commander refused to comply, citing President Abraham Lincoln's suspension of the writ, Taney wrote an opinion declaring that only Congress, not the President, held the constitutional authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Lincoln did not comply with Taney's order and continued to authorize military detentions, defending his actions in a message to Congress. The case remains a central reference point in debates over the scope of executive power during wartime and the constitutional allocation of authority to suspend habeas corpus between the legislative and executive branches.