Habeas Corpus Suspension Act 1863
Encyclopedia
The Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, (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 privilege of the writ
of habeas corpus
in response to the United States Civil War and provided for the release of political prisoner
s. 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. The Senate amended the House's bill, 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. 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 lifted with the issuance of Proclamation 148 by Andrew Johnson
, and the Act became inoperative with the end of the Civil War.
, was largely undefended, rioters in Baltimore, Maryland threatened to disrupt the reinforcement of the capital by rail, and Congress was not in session. The military situation made it dangerous to call Congress into session. Abraham Lincoln
, the president of the United States
, therefore authorized his military commanders to suspend the writ of habeas corpus
between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia (and later up through New York City). Numerous individuals were arrested, including John Merryman
and a number of Baltimore police commissioners; the administration of justice in Baltimore was carried out through military officials. In May 1861, the United States Circuit Court
for Maryland ruled in ex parte Merryman
that Article I, section 9 of the United States Constitution
reserves to Congress the power to suspend habeas corpus and thus that the president's suspension was invalid. The circuit court's orders were ignored.
When Congress was called into session, July 4, 1861, Pres. 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. Early in the session, Sen. Henry Wilson
introduced a joint resolution
"to approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States, for suppressing insurrection and rebellion," including the suspension of habeas corpus (S. No. 1). Senate Democrats filibustered whenever discussion of the joint resolution arose, however, and Sen. Lyman Trumbull
, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, had reservations about its imprecise wording, so the resolution was never brought to a vote.
On July 17, 1861, Sen. Trumbull introduced a bill to suppress insurrection and sedition which included a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus upon Congress's authority (S. 33). That bill was not brought to a vote before Congress ended its first session on August 6, 1861, and on July 11, 1862, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary recommended that it not be passed during the second session, either, but its habeas corpus suspension section formed the basis of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act.
Meanwhile, Lincoln took a step back from the suspension of habeas corpus. On February 14, 1862, he ordered all political prisoners released, with some exceptions, and offered them amnesty
for past treason
or disloyalty, so long as they did not aid the Confederacy. Seven months later, however, faced with opposition to his calling up of the militia
, he 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
. In the interim, several calls were 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
.
introduced a bill "to indemnify the President and other persons for suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and acts done in pursuance thereof" (H.R. 591). This bill passed the House over relatively weak opposition on December 8, 1862.
When it came time for the Senate to consider Rep. Stevens' indemnity bill, however, the Committee on the Judiciary
's amendment substituted an entirely new bill for it. The Senate version referred all suits and prosecutions regarding arrest and imprisonment to the regional federal circuit court
with the stipulation that no one acting under the authority of the president could be faulted if "there was reasonable or probable cause," or if they acted "in good faith," until after the adjournment of the next session of Congress. Unlike Stevens' bill, it did not suggest that the president's suspension of habeas corpus upon his own authority had been legal.
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. The House appointed Thaddeus Stevens, John Bingham
, and George H. Pendleton
to the conference committee. The Senate agreed to a conference the following day and appointed Lyman Trumbull, Jacob Collamer
, and Waitman T. Willey
. 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.
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. 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.
The Senate spent the evening of March 2 into the early morning of the next day debating the conference committee amendments. There, several Democratic Senators attempted a filibuster
. Cloture
had not yet been adopted as a rule in the Senate, so there was no way to prevent a minuscule minority from holding up business by refusing to surrender the floor
. First James Walter Wall
of New Jersey spoke until midnight, when Willard Saulsbury, Sr.
, of Delaware gave Republicans an opportunity to surrender by moving
to adjourn
. That motion was defeated 5-31, after which Lazarus W. Powell
of Kentucky began to speak, yielding for a motion to adjourn from William Alexander Richardson
of Illinois forty minutes later, which was also defeated, 5-30. Powell continued to speak, entertaining some hostile questions from Edgar Cowan
of Pennsylvania which provoked further discussion, but retaining control of the floor. At seven minutes past two in the morning, James A. Bayard, Jr.
, of Delaware motioned to adjourn, the motion again failing, 4-35, and Powell retained control of the floor. Powell yielded the floor to Bayard, who then began to speak. At some point later, Powell made a motion to adjourn, but Bayard apparently had not yielded to him for that motion. When this was pointed out, Powell told Bayard to sit down so he could make the motion, assuming that Bayard would retain control of the floor if the motion failed, as it did, 4-33. The presiding officer, Samuel C. Pomeroy
of Kansas, immediately called the question
of concurring in the report of the conference committee and declared
that the ayes had it, and Trumbull immediately moved that the Senate move on to other business, which motion was agreed to. The Democrats objected that Bayard still had the floor, that he had merely yielded it for a motion to adjourn, but Pomeroy said he had no record of why Bayard had yielded the floor, meaning the floor was open once Powell's motion to adjourn had failed, meaning that the presiding officer was free to call the question. In this way, the bill cleared the Senate.
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.
The Act also provided for the release of prisoners. It required the secretaries of State
and War
to provide the judges of the federal district
and circuit courts
with a list of every person who was held as a state or political prisoner
and not as a prisoner of war
wherever the federal courts were still operational. If the secretaries did not include a prisoner on the list, the judge was ordered to free them. If a grand jury
failed to indict
anyone on the list before the end of its session, that prisoner was to be released, so long as they took an oath of allegiance and swore that they would not aid the rebellion. Judges could, if they concluded that the public safety required it, set bail
before releasing such unindicted prisoners. If the grand jury did indict a prisoner, that person could still be set free on bail
if they were charged with a crime that in peacetime would ordinarily make them eligible for bail.
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 false arrest
, false imprisonment
, trespass
ing, or any crime related to a search and seizure
; this applied to actions done under Lincoln's prior suspensions of habeas corpus as well as future ones. If anyone brought a suit against a civilian or military official in any state court, or if state prosecutors went after them, the official could request that the trial instead take place in the (friendlier) federal court system. Moreover, if the official won the case, they could collect double in damages
from the plaintiff
. Any case could be appeal
ed to the United States Supreme Court on a writ of error. Any suits to be brought against civilian or military officials had to be brought within two years of the arrest or the passage of the Act, whichever was later.
, spies
, traitors
, or any member of the military. He subsequently both suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law
in Kentucky on July 5, 1864. An objection was made to the Act that it did not itself suspend the writ of habeas corpus but instead conferred that authority upon the president, and that the Act therefore violated the nondelegation doctrine
prohibiting Congress from transferring its legislative authority, but no court adopted that view. Andrew Johnson
restored civilian courts to Kentucky in October, 1865, and revoked the suspension of habeas corpus in states and territories that had not joined the rebellion on December 1 later that year. At least one court had already ruled that the authority of the president to suspend the privilege of the writ had expired with the end of the rebellion a year and a half earlier.
One of those arrested while habeas corpus was suspended was Lambdin P. Milligan
. Milligan was arrested in Indiana on October 5, 1864, for conspiring with four others to steal weapons and invade Union prisoner-of-war camps to release Confederate
prisoners. They were tried before a military tribunal
, found guilty, and sentenced to hang. In ex parte Milligan
, the United States Supreme Court held that the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act did not authorize military tribunals, that as a matter of constitutional law
the suspension of habeas corpus did not itself authorize trial by military tribunals, and that neither the Act nor the laws of war
permitted the imposition of martial law
where civilian courts were open and operating unimpeded.
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 Copperhead
Clement Vallandigham
. General Ambrose E. Burnside had him arrested in May 1863 for continuing to express sympathy for the Confederate cause after having been warned to cease doing so. Vallandigham was tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to two years in a military prison. Lincoln quickly commuted
his sentence to banishment to the Confederacy. Vallandigham appealed his sentence, arguing that the Enrollment Act
did not authorize his trial by a military tribunal rather than in ordinary civilian courts, that he was not ordinarily subject to court martial, and that Gen. Burnside could not expand the jurisdiction of military courts on his own authority. The Supreme Court did not address the substance of Vallandigham's appeal, instead denying that it possessed the jurisdiction to review the proceedings of military tribunals upon a writ of habeas corpus without explicit congressional authorization.
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 Habeas Corpus Act of 1867
partially restored habeas corpus, extending federal habeas corpus protection to anyone "restrained of his or her liberty in violation of the constitution, or of any treaty or law of the United States," while continuing to deny habeas relief to anyone who had already been arrested for a military offense or for aiding the Confederacy. The provisions for the release of prisoners were incorporated into the Civil Rights Act of 1871
, which authorized the suspension of habeas corpus in order to break the Ku Klux Klan
. Congress strengthened the protections for officials sued for actions arising from the suspension of habeas corpus in 1866 and 1867. Its provisions were omitted from the Revised Statutes of the United States, the codification of federal legislation in effect as of 1873.
Act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....
that authorized the president of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
to suspend the privilege of the writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
in response to the United States Civil War and provided for the release of political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s. It began in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
as an indemnity
Indemnity
An indemnity is a sum paid by A to B by way of compensation for a particular loss suffered by B. The indemnitor may or may not be responsible for the loss suffered by the indemnitee...
bill, introduced on December 5, 1862, releasing the president and his subordinates from any liability
Liability
A liability can mean something that is a hindrance or puts an individual or group at a disadvantage, or something that someone is responsible for, or something that increases the chance of something occurring ....
for having suspended habeas corpus without congressional approval. The Senate amended the House's bill, 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. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
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 lifted with the issuance of Proclamation 148 by Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, and the Act became inoperative with the end of the Civil War.
Background
At the outbreak of the United States Civil War in April 1861, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, was largely undefended, rioters in Baltimore, Maryland threatened to disrupt the reinforcement of the capital by rail, and Congress was not in session. The military situation made it dangerous to call Congress into session. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, the president of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, therefore authorized his military commanders to suspend the writ of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia (and later up through New York City). Numerous individuals were arrested, including John Merryman
John Merryman
John Merryman was the petitioner in one of the best known habeas corpus cases of the American Civil War, a militia officer during the Civil War, and a Maryland politician.-Early life:...
and a number of Baltimore police commissioners; the administration of justice in Baltimore was carried out through military officials. In May 1861, the United States Circuit Court
United States circuit court
The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate...
for Maryland ruled in ex parte Merryman
Ex parte Merryman
Ex parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 , is a well-known U.S. federal court case which arose out of the American Civil War. It was a test of the authority of the President to suspend "the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus"...
that Article I, section 9 of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
reserves to Congress the power to suspend habeas corpus and thus that the president's suspension was invalid. The circuit court's orders were ignored.
When Congress was called into session, July 4, 1861, Pres. 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. Early in the session, Sen. Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson was the 18th Vice President of the United States and a Senator from Massachusetts...
introduced a joint resolution
Joint resolution
In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires approval by the Senate and the House and is presented to the President for his/her approval or disapproval, in exactly the same case as a bill....
"to approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States, for suppressing insurrection and rebellion," including the suspension of habeas corpus (S. No. 1). Senate Democrats filibustered whenever discussion of the joint resolution arose, however, and Sen. Lyman Trumbull
Lyman Trumbull
Lyman Trumbull was a United States Senator from Illinois during the American Civil War, and co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.-Education and early career:...
, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, had reservations about its imprecise wording, so the resolution was never brought to a vote.
On July 17, 1861, Sen. Trumbull introduced a bill to suppress insurrection and sedition which included a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus upon Congress's authority (S. 33). That bill was not brought to a vote before Congress ended its first session on August 6, 1861, and on July 11, 1862, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary recommended that it not be passed during the second session, either, but its habeas corpus suspension section formed the basis of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act.
Meanwhile, Lincoln took a step back from the suspension of habeas corpus. On February 14, 1862, he ordered all political prisoners released, with some exceptions, and offered them amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
for past treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
or disloyalty, so long as they did not aid the Confederacy. Seven months later, however, faced with opposition to his calling up of the militia
Militia (United States)
The role of militia, also known as military service and duty, in the United States is complex and has transformed over time.Spitzer, Robert J.: The Politics of Gun Control, Page 36. Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1995. " The term militia can be used to describe any number of groups within the...
, he 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
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
. In the interim, several calls were made for prosecution of those who acted under Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus; former Secretary of War Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of War for Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War. After making his fortune in railways and banking, he turned to a life of politics. He became a U.S. senator in 1845 for the state of Pennsylvania,...
had even been arrested in connection with a suit for trespass vi et armis
Vi et armis
Trespass vi et armis was a kind of lawsuit at common law called a tort. The cause of action alleged a trespass upon person or property vi et armis, Latin for "by force and arms." The plaintiff would allege in a pleading that the act committing the offense was "immediately injurious to another's...
, assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and battery
Battery (tort)
At common law, battery is the tort of intentionally and voluntarily bringing about an unconsented harmful or offensive contact with a person or to something closely associated with them . Unlike assault, battery involves an actual contact...
, and false imprisonment
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
.
Legislative history
When the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States opened its third session in December 1862, Rep. Thaddeus StevensThaddeus Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens , of Pennsylvania, was a Republican leader and one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives...
introduced a bill "to indemnify the President and other persons for suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and acts done in pursuance thereof" (H.R. 591). This bill passed the House over relatively weak opposition on December 8, 1862.
When it came time for the Senate to consider Rep. Stevens' indemnity bill, however, the Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...
's amendment substituted an entirely new bill for it. The Senate version referred all suits and prosecutions regarding arrest and imprisonment to the regional federal circuit court
United States circuit court
The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate...
with the stipulation that no one acting under the authority of the president could be faulted if "there was reasonable or probable cause," or if they acted "in good faith," until after the adjournment of the next session of Congress. Unlike Stevens' bill, it did not suggest that the president's suspension of habeas corpus upon his own authority had been legal.
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. The House appointed Thaddeus Stevens, John Bingham
John Bingham
John Armor Bingham was a Republican congressman from Ohio, America, judge advocate in the trial of the Abraham Lincoln assassination and a prosecutor in the impeachment trials of Andrew Johnson...
, and George H. Pendleton
George H. Pendleton
George Hunt Pendleton was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. Nicknamed "Gentleman George" for his demeanor, he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States during the Civil War in 1864, running as a peace Democrat with war Democrat George B. McClellan; they lost to...
to the conference committee. The Senate agreed to a conference the following day and appointed Lyman Trumbull, Jacob Collamer
Jacob Collamer
Jacob Collamer was an American politician from Vermont.-Biography:Jacob Collamer was born in Troy, New York. He graduated from the University of Vermont at Burlington, served in the War of 1812, studied law in St. Albans, Vermont, was admitted to the bar in 1813, and served as an officer in a...
, and Waitman T. Willey
Waitman T. Willey
Waitman Thomas Willey was an American lawyer and politician from Morgantown, West Virginia. He represented both the states of Virginia and West Virginia in the United States Senate and was one of West Virginia's first two Senators.Willey was born in 1811, in a log cabin near the present day...
. Stevens, Bingham, Trumbull, and Collamer were all Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
; Willey was a Unionist
Unionist Party (United States)
The Union Party was a fusion political party conceived by Republicans in 1861 to combine people of all political affiliations into a single movement committed to the preservation of the Union and to war. Republicans wanted to project an image of wartime nonpartisanship and they also expected to...
; Pendleton was the only Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
.
On February 27, the conference committee issued its report. The result was an entirely new bill authorizing the explicit suspension of habeas corpus.
In the House, several members left, depriving the chamber of a quorum
Quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group...
. The Sergeant-at-Arms
Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms is an officer of the House with law enforcement, protocol, and administrative responsibilities. The Sergeant at Arms is elected at the beginning of each Congress by the membership of the chamber...
was dispatched to compel attendance and several representatives were fined for their absence. The following Monday, March 2, the day before the Thirty-Seventh Congress had previously voted to adjourn
Adjournment sine die
Adjournment sine die means "without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing". To adjourn an assembly sine die is to adjourn it for an indefinite period...
, the House voted to accept the new bill, with 99 members voting in the affirmative and 44 against.
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
. Cloture
Cloture
In parliamentary procedure, cloture is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It is also called closure or, informally, a guillotine. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. Clôture is French for "ending" or "conclusion"...
had not yet been adopted as a rule in the Senate, so there was no way to prevent a minuscule minority from holding up business by refusing to surrender the floor
Floor (legislative)
The floor of a legislature or chamber is the place where members sit and make speeches. When a person is speaking there formally, they are said to have the floor. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S...
. First James Walter Wall
James Walter Wall
James Walter Wall was a United States Senator from New Jersey during the American Civil War. He was the son of U.S. Senator Garret Dorset Wall.-Biography:...
of New Jersey spoke until midnight, when Willard Saulsbury, Sr.
Willard Saulsbury, Sr.
Willard Saulsbury, Sr. was a lawyer and politician from Georgetown, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served as Attorney General of Delaware, U.S...
, of Delaware gave Republicans an opportunity to surrender by moving
Motion (parliamentary procedure)
In parliamentary procedure, a motion is a formal proposal by a member of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action. In a parliament, this is also called a parliamentary motion and includes legislative motions, budgetary motions, supplementary budgetary motions, and petitionary...
to adjourn
Adjournment
An adjournment is a suspension of proceedings to another time or place. To adjourn means to suspend until a later stated time or place.-Law:In law, to adjourn means to suspend proceedings to another time or place, or to end them....
. That motion was defeated 5-31, after which Lazarus W. Powell
Lazarus W. Powell
Lazarus Whitehead Powell was the 19th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1851 to 1855. He was later elected to represent Kentucky in the U.S. Senate from 1859 to 1865....
of Kentucky began to speak, yielding for a motion to adjourn from William Alexander Richardson
William Alexander Richardson
William Alexander Richardson was a prominent Illinois Democrat politician before and during the American Civil War....
of Illinois forty minutes later, which was also defeated, 5-30. Powell continued to speak, entertaining some hostile questions from Edgar Cowan
Edgar Cowan
Edgar Cowan was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate during the American Civil War....
of Pennsylvania which provoked further discussion, but retaining control of the floor. At seven minutes past two in the morning, James A. Bayard, Jr.
James A. Bayard, Jr.
James Asheton Bayard, Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware.-Early life and family:...
, of Delaware motioned to adjourn, the motion again failing, 4-35, and Powell retained control of the floor. Powell yielded the floor to Bayard, who then began to speak. At some point later, Powell made a motion to adjourn, but Bayard apparently had not yielded to him for that motion. When this was pointed out, Powell told Bayard to sit down so he could make the motion, assuming that Bayard would retain control of the floor if the motion failed, as it did, 4-33. The presiding officer, Samuel C. Pomeroy
Samuel C. Pomeroy
Samuel Clarke Pomeroy was an American Republican Senator from Kansas in the mid-19th century, serving in the United States Senate during the American Civil War. Pomeroy served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives...
of Kansas, immediately called the question
Previous question
Previous question, in parliamentary procedure is a motion to end debate, and the moving of amendments, on any debatable or amendable motion and bring that motion to an immediate vote.-Explanation and Use:It is often invoked by a member saying, "I call [for] the...
of concurring in the report of the conference committee and declared
Voice vote
A voice vote is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally....
that the ayes had it, and Trumbull immediately moved that the Senate move on to other business, which motion was agreed to. The Democrats objected that Bayard still had the floor, that he had merely yielded it for a motion to adjourn, but Pomeroy said he had no record of why Bayard had yielded the floor, meaning the floor was open once Powell's motion to adjourn had failed, meaning that the presiding officer was free to call the question. In this way, the bill cleared the Senate.
The next day, Senate Democrats protested the manner in which the bill had passed. During the ensuring discussion, the president pro tempore
President pro tempore
A President pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer...
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.
Provisions
The Act allowed the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus so long as the Civil War was ongoing. 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.The Act also provided for the release of prisoners. It required the secretaries of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
and War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
to provide the judges of the federal district
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
and circuit courts
United States circuit court
The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate...
with a list of every person who was held as a state or political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
and not as a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
wherever the federal courts were still operational. If the secretaries did not include a prisoner on the list, the judge was ordered to free them. If a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
failed to indict
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
anyone on the list before the end of its session, that prisoner was to be released, so long as they took an oath of allegiance and swore that they would not aid the rebellion. Judges could, if they concluded that the public safety required it, set bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
before releasing such unindicted prisoners. If the grand jury did indict a prisoner, that person could still be set free on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
if they were charged with a crime that in peacetime would ordinarily make them eligible for bail.
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 false arrest
False arrest
False arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges they were held in custody without probable cause, or without an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction...
, false imprisonment
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
, trespass
Trespass
Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels and trespass to land.Trespass to the person, historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, mayhem, and maiming...
ing, or any crime related to a search and seizure
Search and seizure
Search and seizure is a legal procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems whereby police or other authorities and their agents, who suspect that a crime has been committed, do a search of a person's property and confiscate any relevant evidence to the crime.Some countries have...
; this applied to actions done under Lincoln's prior suspensions of habeas corpus as well as future ones. If anyone brought a suit against a civilian or military official in any state court, or if state prosecutors went after them, the official could request that the trial instead take place in the (friendlier) federal court system. Moreover, if the official won the case, they could collect double in damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
from the plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
. Any case could be appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed to the United States Supreme Court on a writ of error. Any suits to be brought against civilian or military officials had to be brought within two years of the arrest or the passage of the Act, whichever was later.
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 prisoners of warPrisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, spies
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
, traitors
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, or any member of the military. He subsequently both suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
in Kentucky on July 5, 1864. An objection was made to the Act that it did not itself suspend the writ of habeas corpus but instead conferred that authority upon the president, and that the Act therefore violated the nondelegation doctrine
Nondelegation doctrine
The doctrine of nondelegation describes the theory that one branch of government must not authorize another entity to exercise the power or function which it is constitutionally authorized to exercise itself. It is explicit or implicit in all written constitutions that impose a strict structural...
prohibiting Congress from transferring its legislative authority, but no court adopted that view. Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
restored civilian courts to Kentucky in October, 1865, and revoked the suspension of habeas corpus in states and territories that had not joined the rebellion on December 1 later that year. At least one court had already ruled that the authority of the president to suspend the privilege of the writ had expired with the end of the rebellion a year and a half earlier.
Lambdin P. Milligan
Lambdin Purdy Milligan was a lawyer, farmer, and a leader of the Knights of the Golden Circle during the American Civil War. In 1864, he was unlawfully given a capital sentence, and later set free by the United States Supreme Court, setting a precedent later named after him: Ex parte Milligan...
. Milligan was arrested in Indiana on October 5, 1864, for conspiring with four others to steal weapons and invade Union prisoner-of-war camps to release Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
prisoners. They were tried before a military tribunal
Military tribunal
A military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors...
, found guilty, and sentenced to hang. In ex parte Milligan
Ex parte Milligan
Ex parte Milligan, , was a United States Supreme Court case that ruled that the application of military tribunals to citizens when civilian courts are still operating is unconstitutional. It was also controversial because it was one of the first cases after the end of the American Civil...
, the United States Supreme Court held that the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act did not authorize military tribunals, that as a matter of constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
the suspension of habeas corpus did not itself authorize trial by military tribunals, and that neither the Act nor the laws of war
Laws of war
The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...
permitted the imposition of martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
where civilian courts were open and operating unimpeded.
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 Copperhead
Copperheads (politics)
The Copperheads were a vocal group of Democrats in the Northern United States who opposed the American Civil War, wanting an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. Republicans started calling anti-war Democrats "Copperheads," likening them to the venomous snake...
Clement Vallandigham
Clement Vallandigham
Clement Laird Vallandigham was an Ohio resident of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats during the American Civil War. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:...
. General Ambrose E. Burnside had him arrested in May 1863 for continuing to express sympathy for the Confederate cause after having been warned to cease doing so. Vallandigham was tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to two years in a military prison. Lincoln quickly commuted
Commutation of sentence
Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...
his sentence to banishment to the Confederacy. Vallandigham appealed his sentence, arguing that the Enrollment Act
Enrollment Act
The Enrollment Act, , enacted March 3, 1863, was legislation passed by the United States Congress during the American Civil War to provide fresh manpower for the Union Army. A form of conscription, the controversial act required the enrollment of every male citizen and those immigrants who had...
did not authorize his trial by a military tribunal rather than in ordinary civilian courts, that he was not ordinarily subject to court martial, and that Gen. Burnside could not expand the jurisdiction of military courts on his own authority. The Supreme Court did not address the substance of Vallandigham's appeal, instead denying that it possessed the jurisdiction to review the proceedings of military tribunals upon a writ of habeas corpus without explicit congressional authorization.
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 Habeas Corpus Act of 1867
Habeas Corpus Act 1867
The Habeas Corpus Act of 1867 is an act of Congress that significantly expanded the jurisdiction of federal courts to issue writs of habeas corpus...
partially restored habeas corpus, extending federal habeas corpus protection to anyone "restrained of his or her liberty in violation of the constitution, or of any treaty or law of the United States," while continuing to deny habeas relief to anyone who had already been arrested for a military offense or for aiding the Confederacy. The provisions for the release of prisoners were incorporated into the Civil Rights Act of 1871
Civil Rights Act of 1871
The Civil Rights Act of 1871, , enacted April 20, 1871, is a federal law in force in the United States. The Act was originally enacted a few years after the American Civil War, along with the 1870 Force Act. One of the chief reasons for its passage was to protect southern blacks from the Ku Klux...
, which authorized the suspension of habeas corpus in order to break the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. Congress strengthened the protections for officials sued for actions arising from the suspension of habeas corpus in 1866 and 1867. Its provisions were omitted from the Revised Statutes of the United States, the codification of federal legislation in effect as of 1873.
See also
- Habeas corpus in the United StatesHabeas corpus in the United StatesHabeas corpus , Latin for "you [shall] have the body," is the name of a legal action or writ by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment...
- Suspension clause
- United States ex rel. Murphy v. PorterUnited States ex rel. Murphy v. PorterUnited States ex rel. Murphy v. Porter, 2 Hawy. & H. 394, 27 F. Cas. 599, was a case decided by the United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia in October 1861. The case arose when John Murphy asked the court to issue a writ of habeas corpus to release his son from service in the...