| | The Constitution does not grant any power '''''to a president''''' to suspend habeas corpus, and Abraham Lincoln surely knew that. But he suspended it anyway, first along military transportation routes in Maryland, and later throughout Union for many years during the Civil War. Chief Justice Roger Taney, who sympathized with the South, held in 1861 while presiding on a Circuit Court (not in his role as the Supreme Court Chief Justice) that only Congress, and not the President, could suspend habeas corpus. President Lincoln simply ignored the decision, and Chief Justice Taney admitted that he had no way of enforcing his view. Congress passed the Habeas Corpus Act in 1863 to permit the president to imprison people without complying with habeas corpus rights of prisoners. But the law did require federal courts to order the release of any prisoners who had not been formally charged with crimes, and who were simply being jailed without any stated reason. | | The Constitution does not grant any power '''''to a president''''' to suspend habeas corpus, and Abraham Lincoln surely knew that. But he suspended it anyway, first along military transportation routes in Maryland, and later throughout Union for many years during the Civil War. Chief Justice Roger Taney, who sympathized with the South, held in 1861 while presiding on a Circuit Court (not in his role as the Supreme Court Chief Justice) that only Congress, and not the President, could suspend habeas corpus. President Lincoln simply ignored the decision, and Chief Justice Taney admitted that he had no way of enforcing his view. Congress passed the Habeas Corpus Act in 1863 to permit the president to imprison people without complying with habeas corpus rights of prisoners. But the law did require federal courts to order the release of any prisoners who had not been formally charged with crimes, and who were simply being jailed without any stated reason. |
| − | In one famous case, a Southern newspaper editor was imprisoned for repeatedly criticizing military officials during Reconstruction in Mississippi. Congress, then controlled by northerners who were angry at the South and feared a decision in favor of a southerner in this case, passed a law in 1867 to take away from federal courts their authority to hear these cases. But the Supreme Court reasserted its power anyway, by holding that it retained authority to hear these habeas corpus cases on appeal under the Judiciary Act of 1789. | + | In one famous case, a Southern newspaper editor was imprisoned for repeatedly criticizing military officials during Reconstruction in Mississippi. Congress, then controlled by northerners who were angry at the South and who feared a decision in favor of a southerner in this case, passed a law in 1867 to take away from federal courts their authority to hear these cases. But the Supreme Court reasserted its power anyway, by holding that it retained authority to hear these habeas corpus cases on appeal under the Judiciary Act of 1789. |
| − | Massive illegal immigration by Chinese in the late 1800s caused another habeas corpus controversy, with one federal judge in northern California hearing more than 7,000 cases requesting writs of habeas corpus for imprisoned Chinese immigrants. Thousands of these writs of habeas corpus petitions were granted to the prisoners, but ultimately the Supreme Court took away much of this power from the lower federal courts to grant habeas corpus relief to illegal immigrants. Instead, federal district courts were required mostly to abide by decisions made by immigration authorities to deport someone, which at that time typically meant sending the detained person back to China. | + | Massive illegal immigration from China in the late 1800s caused another habeas corpus controversy, with one federal judge in northern California hearing more than 7,000 cases requesting writs of habeas corpus for imprisoned Chinese immigrants. Thousands of these writs of habeas corpus petitions were granted to the prisoners, but ultimately the Supreme Court took away from the lower federal courts much of their power to grant habeas corpus relief to illegal immigrants. Then federal district courts were required mostly to abide by decisions made by immigration authorities to deport someone, which at that time typically meant sending the detained person back to China. |