From the FJC: Ex Parte Merryman Document Resources
With Abraham Lincoln back in the news, the Federal Judicial Center has posted a series of neat documents about the suspension of habeas corpus and the Ex Parte Merryman case. Here's a brief history of the case. Here's an overview of some of the material the FJC has posted.
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With Abraham Lincoln back in the news, the Federal Judicial Center has posted a series of neat documents about the suspension of habeas corpus and the Ex Parte Merryman case. Here's a brief history of the case. Here's an overview of some of the material the FJC has posted. And here's the really fun stuff---the documents:
- Petition for a writ of habeas corpus, John Merryman, May 25, 1861
- Ex parte Merryman, opinion of Chief Justice Roger Taney (excerpts)
- Lincoln’s orders on habeas corpus (excerpts)
- Roger Taney to Franklin Pierce, June 12, 1861 (excerpt)
- President Abraham Lincoln, message to Congress in special session, July 4, 1861 (excerpt)
- Opinion of Attorney General Edward Bates, July 5, 1861 (excerpts)
- Horace Binney, The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus Under the Constitution (excerpt)
- Edward Ingersoll, Personal Liberty and Martial Law: A Review of Some Pamphlets of the Day (excerpt)
- Abraham Lincoln to Erastus Corning and others, June 12, 1863 (excerpts)
- Constitutional and statutory authorities
- Newspaper Coverage
- Popular Culture
- Lincoln cartoon
Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.