Habeas Corpus Suspension Act (1863)
Senate Judiciary | |
Major amendments | |
---|---|
14 Stat. 46 (1866), 14 Stat. 385 (1867) | |
United States Supreme Court cases | |
ex parte Vallandigham, 68 U.S. (1 Wall.) 243 (1864) ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2 (1866) |
The Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 755 (1863), entitled An Act relating to Habeas Corpus, and regulating Judicial Proceedings in Certain Cases, was an Act of Congress that authorized the president of the United States to suspend the right of habeas corpus in response to the American Civil War and provided for the release of political prisoners. It began in the House of Representatives as an indemnity bill, introduced on December 5, 1862, releasing the president and his subordinates from any liability for having suspended habeas corpus without congressional approval.[1] The Senate amended the House's bill,[2] and the compromise reported out of the conference committee altered it to qualify the indemnity and to suspend habeas corpus on Congress's own authority.[3] Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law on March 3, 1863, and suspended habeas corpus under the authority it granted him six months later. The suspension was partially lifted with the issuance of Proclamation 148 by Andrew Johnson,[4] and the Act became inoperative with the end of the Civil War. The exceptions to Johnson's Proclamation 148 were the States of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, the District of Columbia, and the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona.
Background
At the outbreak of the
Merryman's lawyers appealed, and in early June 1861, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice
When Congress was called into special session, July 4, 1861, President Lincoln issued a message to both houses defending his various actions, including the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, arguing that it was both necessary and constitutional for him to have suspended it without Congress.
In September 1861 the arrests continued, including a sitting member of Congress from Maryland,
In early 1862 Lincoln took a step back from the suspension of habeas corpus controversy. On February 14, he ordered all political prisoners released, with some exceptions (such as the aforementioned newspaper editor) and offered them amnesty for past treason or disloyalty, so long as they did not aid the Confederacy. In March 1862 Congressman Henry May, who had been released in December 1861, introduced a bill requiring the federal government to either indict by grand jury or release all other "political prisoners" still held without habeas corpus.[21] May's bill passed the House in summer 1862, and it would later be included in the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, which would require actual indictments for suspected traitors.[22]
In September, faced with opposition to his calling up of the militia, Lincoln again suspended habeas corpus, this time through the entire country, and made anyone charged with interfering with the draft, discouraging enlistments, or aiding the Confederacy subject to martial law.[23] In the interim, the controversy continued with several calls made for prosecution of those who acted under Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus; former Secretary of War Simon Cameron had even been arrested in connection with a suit for trespass vi et armis, assault and battery, and false imprisonment.[24] Senator Thomas Holliday Hicks, who had been governor of Maryland during the crisis, told the Senate, "I believe that arrests and arrests alone saved the State of Maryland not only from greater degradation than she suffered, but from everlasting destruction." He also said, "I approved them [the arrests] then, and I approve them now; and the only thing for which I condemn the Administration in regard to that matter is that they let some of these men out."[25]
Legislative history
When the
When it came time for the Senate to consider Stevens' indemnity bill, however, the
The Senate passed its version of the bill on January 28, 1863, and the House took it up in mid-February before voting to send the bill to a conference committee on February 19.[28] The House appointed Thaddeus Stevens, John Bingham, and George H. Pendleton to the conference committee.[29] The Senate agreed to a conference the following day and appointed Lyman Trumbull, Jacob Collamer, and Waitman T. Willey.[30] Stevens, Bingham, Trumbull, and Collamer were all Republicans; Willey was a Unionist; Pendleton was the only Democrat.
On February 27, the conference committee issued its report. The result was an entirely new bill authorizing the explicit suspension of habeas corpus.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That during the present rebellion, the President of the United States, whenever in his judgment the public safety may require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United States or any part thereof. And whenever and wherever the said privilege shall be suspended, as aforesaid, no military or other officer shall be compelled, in answer to any writ of habeas corpus, to return the body of any person or persons detained by him by authority of the President; but upon a certificate, under oath, of the officer having charge of any one so detained, that such person is detained by him as a prisoner under the authority of the President, further proceedings under the writ of habeas corpus shall be suspended by the judge or court having issued the writ so long as said suspension by the President shall remain in force and said rebellion continue.[31]
In the House, several members left, depriving the chamber of a quorum. The Sergeant-at-Arms was dispatched to compel attendance and several representatives were fined for their absence.[32] The following Monday, March 2, the day before the Thirty-Seventh Congress had previously voted to adjourn, the House voted to accept the new bill, with 99 members voting in the affirmative and 44 against.[33]
The Senate spent the evening of March 2 into the early morning of the next day debating the conference committee amendments.
The next day, Senate Democrats protested the manner in which the bill had passed. During the ensuring discussion, the president pro tempore asked permission "to sign a large number of enrolled bills", among which was the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act. The House had already been informed that the Senate had passed the bill, and the engrossed bills were sent to the president, who immediately signed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act into law.[35]
Provisions
The Act allowed the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus so long as the Civil War was ongoing.[36] Normally, a judge would issue a writ of habeas corpus to compel a jailer to state the reason for holding a particular prisoner and, if the judge was not satisfied that the prisoner was being held lawfully, could release him. As a result of the Act, the jailer could now reply that a prisoner was held under the authority of the president and this response would suspend further proceedings in the case until the president lifted the suspension of habeas corpus or the Civil War ended.[36]
The Act also provided for the release of prisoners in a section originally authored by Maryland Congressman
The Act further restricted how and why military and civilian officials could be sued. Anyone acting in an official capacity could not be convicted for
Aftermath
President Lincoln used the authority granted him under the Act on September 15, 1863, to suspend habeas corpus throughout the Union in any case involving
One of those arrested while habeas corpus was suspended was
The Court had earlier avoided the questions arising in ex parte Milligan regarding the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act in a case concerning former Congressman and Ohio
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt (May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. She was sentenced to death but her lawyers Clampitt and Aiken had not finished trying to save their client. On the morning of July 7, they asked a District of Columbia court for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the military tribunal had no jurisdiction over their client. The court issued the writ at 3 A.M., and it was served on General Winfield Scott Hancock. Hancock was ordered to produce Surratt by 10 A.M. General Hancock sent an aide to General John F. Hartranft, who commanded the Old Capitol Prison, ordering him not to admit any United States marshal (as this would prevent the marshal from serving a similar writ on Hartranft). President Johnson was informed that the court had issued the writ, and promptly cancelled it at 11:30 A.M. under the authority granted to him by the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863. General Hancock and United States Attorney General James Speed personally appeared in court and informed the judge of the cancellation of the writ. Mary Surratt was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government.
Because all of the provisions of the Act referred to the Civil War, they were rendered inoperative with the conclusion of the war and no longer remain in effect. The
See also
- Habeas corpus in the United States
- Suspension clause
- United States ex rel. Murphy v. Porter
Notes
- Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session. 1862–63. p. 14.
- Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session. 1862–63. pp. 529–54.
- Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session. 1862–63. pp. 1354–58, 1435–38, 1459–79, 1489–94, 1532.
- ^ "Andrew Johnson: Proclamation 148—Revoking the Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Except in Certain States and Territories". www.presidency.ucsb.edu.
- ISBN 9780679446613.
- ^ Lincoln, Abraham,
- ISBN 9780679446613.
- ^ Benson John Lossing (1866), Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War, 1997 reprint, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, Vol. I, Ch. XVIII, "The Capital Secured—Maryland Secessionists Subdued—Contributions by the People", pp. 449–450.
- ^ ex parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 (C.C.D. Md. 1861).
- ISBN 0-19-514588-7.
- ^ William H. Rehnquist, All the Laws But One, 26–39.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, First Session, Appendix (1861), pp. 1–4.
- ^ Doris Goodwin, Team of Rivals (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), 355.
- ^ George Clarke Sellery, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus as viewed by Congress (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1907), 11–26.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, First Session (1861), pp. 336–343, 364, 372–382.
- ^ Sellery, Lincoln's Suspension of Habeas Corpus, 19–22.
- ^ George Clarke Sellery, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus as viewed by Congress (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1907), 11–26.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Second Session (1861–62), pp. 115, 409, 3245.
- ^ a b "A time liberties weren't priority". baltimoresun.com.
- ^ Howard, F. K. (Frank Key) (1863). Fourteen Months in American Bastiles. London: H.F. Mackintosh. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- ^ a b Jonathan White, Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman, LSU Press, 2011. p. 106
- ^ a b White, Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman, p. 107
- ^ Proclamation 94.
- ^ a b c d George Clarke Sellery, Lincoln's Suspension of Habeas Corpus, 34–51.
- Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, Third Session, Part 2, pp. 1372–1373, 1376.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), pp. 14, 20–22.
- ^ H.R. 951 as amended by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, sec. 2; see Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), p. 530.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), pp. 916, 1036, 1056–1089, 1102–1107.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), p. 1107.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), p. 1119.
- ^ Report of the Conference Committee, sec. 1., Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), p. 1354.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), pp. 1354–1359.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), p. 1479.
- ^ a b Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), pp. 1435–1438, 1459–1477.
- ^ Congressional Globe, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Third Session (1862–63), pp.1489–1494, 1532.
- ^ a b Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 755, sec. 1.
- ^ a b c Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 755, sec. 2.
- ^ a b Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 756, sec. 3.
- ^ Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 756, sec. 4.
- ^ a b Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 756, sec. 5.
- ^ Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 757, sec. 6.
- ^ Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 757, sec. 7.
- ^ Proclamation 104.
- ^ Proclamation 113.
- ^ Rollin C. Hurd, A Treatise on the Right of Personal Liberty and on the Writ of Habeas Corpus, revised with notes by Frank H. Hurd (Albany, 1876), 125n–26n.
- ^ Proclamation 146.
- ^ Proclamation 148.
- ^ Commonwealth v. Frink, 4 Am. Law Reg. N. S. 700, cited in Rollin C. Hurd, A Treatise on the Right of Personal Liberty and on the Writ of Habeas Corpus, revised with notes by Frank H. Hurd (Albany, 1876), 127n.
- ^ Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2 (1866).
- ^ Ex parte Vallandigham, 68 U.S. (1 Wall.) 243 (1864).
- ^ The Civil War Day by Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)
- ^ An Act to amend "An Act to establish the judicial Courts of the United States", approved September twenty-fourth, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, Thirty-ninth Congress, Session 2, chap. 28, February 5, 1867, 14 Stat. 385.
- ^ Duker, William F. (1980). A Constitutional History of Habeas Corpus. Wesport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. pp. 189–199.
- ^ An Act to amend an Act entitled, "An Act relating to Habeas Corpus, and regulating Judicial Proceedings in certain cases", approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, 14 Stat. 46 (1866).
- ^ An Act amendatory of "An Act to amend an Act entitled, 'An Act relating to Habeas Corpus, and regulating Judicial Proceedings in certain cases'", approved May eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, 14 Stat. 385 (1867).
- ^ William Wicek, "The Reconstruction of Federal Judicial Power, 1863–1875", American Journal of Legal History 13, no. 4 (October 1969): 333–363.
- ^ Revised Statutes of the United States, Title 13, chap. 13; see also index under "Habeas Corpus", p. 1267.
References
- An Act amendatory of "An Act to amend an Act entitled, 'An Act relating to Habeas Corpus, and regulating Judicial Proceedings in certain cases,'" approved May eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, 14 Stat. 385 (1867).
- An Act to amend an Act entitled, "An Act relating to Habeas Corpus, and regulating Judicial Proceedings in certain cases," approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, 14 Stat. 46 (1866).
- ISBN 0-671-46989-4.
- (1871).
- The Congressional Globe: Containing the Debates and Proceedings of the First Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress. Edited by John C. Rives. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Globe Office, 1861.
- The Congressional Globe: Containing the Debates and Proceedings of the Second Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress. Edited by John C. Rives. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Globe Office, 1862.
- The Congressional Globe: Containing the Debates and Proceedings of the Third Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress. Edited by John Rives. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Globe Office, 1863.
- ex parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 (C.C.D. Md. 1861).
- Duker, William (1980). A Constitutional History of the United States. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-22264-9.
- Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2 (1866).
- Ex parte Vallandigham, 68 U.S. (1 Wall.) 243 (1864).
- Fehrenbacher, Don Edward (1978), The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics, 2001 reprint, New York: Oxford.
- Goodwin, Doris. Team of Rivals. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
- Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, 12 Stat. 755 (1863).
- Hurd, Rollin C. A Treatise on the Right of Personal Liberty and on the Writ of Habeas Corpus. Revised with notes by Frank H. Hurd. Albany, 1876.
- Johnson, Andrew. Proclamation 146.
- Johnson, Andrew. Proclamation 148.
- Lincoln, Abraham. Amnesty to Political and State Prisoners.
- Lincoln, Abraham. Order to Suspend Habeas Corpus.
- Lincoln, Abraham. Order to Suspend Habeas Corpus.
- Lincoln, Abraham. Proclamation 94
- Lincoln, Abraham. Proclamation 104
- Lincoln, Abraham. Proclamation 113
- Lossing, Benson John (1866), Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War, 1997 reprint, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
- Rehnquist, William H.All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1998.
- Revised Statutes of the United States, Passed at the First Session of the Forty-Third Congress, 1873–'74. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1878.
- Sellery, George Clarke. Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus as viewed by Congress. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1907.
- Wicek, William. "The Reconstruction of Federal Judicial Power, 1863–1875." American Journal of Legal History 13, no. 4 (October 1969): 333–63.
- White, Jonathan W. (2011). Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-4346-9.