Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-06-22
POLL u u0Al.
Lincoln Indicted.

M, Lincoln Indicted
We give below few extracts from the
opinion delivered by Chief Justice Taney, in
the case of Merryman, citizen of Maryland,
arrested and detained by Gen. Cadwalader,
commanding in Maryland. We regret that
OUT, limited space will not permit us to pub
lish tho entire opinion, as it is worthy Of the
great reputation of the venerable jurist who
for more than twenty-five years has cxpound.-
!. ed the Constitution Of the United States in the
spiritof its makers. It's remarkable in
+. dictmcnt Of the Washington usurper, and ar.
raigns him before Aucrica and the world for
asgross aud dangerous violation of the Con
sstitution he has sworn to support.
4 THE lIABEAs CORPUS CASE IN BALTIMORE.
Ecpartc { Before the Chief Justice of
j: Merryman. the Supreme Court of the
u. States, at Chambers.
The application in this case for writ Of
@ha6cds corpus is made to me under the 14th
section of the Judiciary Act of 1889, which
renders cffectual for the citizen the constitu-
'i0nal privilege of the writ of ha1eas corpus.
The case, then, is simply this a military
officer, residing in Pennsylvania, issues an
order to arrest citizen Of Maryland upon
vague and indefinite charges, without any
proof, so far as appears Under this order
his house is entered in the night; he is seiz-
ed as a prisoner and conveyed to Fort Nc
Henry, and there kept in close confinement.
Aud when haJcas corpus is served on the
: commanding officer, requiring him to pro-
,duce tho prisonor before Justice of the Su-
preme Court. in order that ho may examine
auto tho legality Of the imprisonment. the an
swcrof the officer is, that he is authorized by
the President to suspend the writ of haJeas
corpus at. his discretion, and, in the exercise
OF that discretion, suspends it in this case,
and on. that grc&nd refuses obedience to the
writ E4o ,-
X x
AS the case comes before me, therefore, I
understand that the President not only claims
heright to suspend the writ of hubeos cor,
PWs, ,himself, ut his discretion, but to delegate
that discretionary power to military officer,
and to leave ii to him whether he will or will
{. not obey judicial process that may be served
upon him,
mo official notice has been given to the
courts of justice or the public, by proclama-
stion or otherwise; tina. the President claimcd
this power, and ilad. exercised it in the man,
sncr stated in the return. And certainly
listened to it with some surprise, for had
supposed 1T to be one Of those points Of cor.
stltutlohal law, upon which there was no diff
ference Of opinion and that it was admitted
on all hands that the privilege Of the writ
could not be suspended except by act of
Congress. i
sE ~ ~ * n
Having, therefore, regarded the question
as too plain and too well settled to be open to
dispute, If the commanding officer had stated
that upon 'lris own, responsibility, and in the
exercise of Ills own discretion, he refused obc.
;dience to the writ, should have .contentcd
myself with referring to the clause in the
Constitution, and to the construction it re-
ooiyed from everyjurist and statesman of that
T day, WHOM the case Of Burr>was before them
but being thus officially notified that the priv
ite3geof tho writ has been suspended under
.theorders and by the authority of the Prcs;-
. dent and, believing, as do, that the Pres-
dent has exercised power which he does
not possess under the Constitution, proper
rospeetfor the high office he fills requires me
to state plainly8an fully the grounds of my
opinion, in order to show that | have not ven
tured to question the legality of this act with
out cnrcful and deliberate examination Of
a the whole subject.
4 ~ i X
1T is the I'd article Of the Constitution that
tspioySoS'V, my WE!h'A"tiotp8o VI tnc NXScu-
stiye Depa.tnient, and ennmerates the powers
soobferrsd omit, and 'proscribcs its duties
And if the high powerover the liberty Of
the citize9s now claimed, was intended to be
conferred on the President, it would updoubt-
eealy be- found in plain words in this article.
e But there is not ID word ia It that can furnish
tke islightest ground tosjustify the exercise
thss power. q "
s W ss " ~ Y n 5a 4, #,9GSSx S5s n IN
So, tcos his powers in relation to the civil
authority necessarily conferred on
3fhim aya oarefnl restricted, as we'll as those
ging To his II; n;litary character. I1o can.
nct tappoint tho ordinary officers Of Govern.
& iot max d d treaty with d forci9n nation
s|ot ian ssribe without the adyico md con,
cent tlsc ats, and cannot appoint even
g y % M @ss VI ~ .bSyans