Legal Arguments in Court
Lawyer for John Merryman
In the petition signed by John Merryman and addressed to Chief Justice Roger Taney, attorney George Williams argued that the arrest without a warrant violated Merryman’s constitutional rights. Merryman had been arrested and detained without any legal authority from a court, a magistrate, or other civil officer, and was thus entitled to be “discharged and restored to liberty.” The petition also denied that Merryman was an officer of the local militia, as alleged by the arresting military officer.
George Williams interviewed John Merryman within hours of his arrest and confinement at Fort McHenry. Merryman signed the petition, but General George Cadwalader, the commanding officer of the fort, refused to allow Williams to examine any documents related to the detention of Merryman. The petition stands as the only documentation of the lawyer’s argument in favor of the writ since no formal arguments were presented before the court.
The Lincoln administration
No lawyers appeared before Chief Justice Taney to defend the military’s arrest and detention of John Merryman. General George Cadwalader, whom Taney ordered to appear with Merryman, dispatched his aide, Colonel Lee, to read the general’s letter to Taney explaining that Merryman was held on charges of treason and support for the armed rebellion against the government. Cadwalader added that he was authorized by the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus when public safety so required.
Although no representative of the Lincoln administration appeared in a court to defend the suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus, Lincoln prepared his own explanation for the Congress when it convened on July 4, 1861, and his attorney general, Edward Bates, subsequently presented a more detailed justification. Lincoln also argued that the constitutional authority to suspend the privilege of habeas corpus could be exercised by the President in the event of an insurrection or invasion, when the severity of the crisis required action before Congress could be called back into session. Although Lincoln denied that he had violated any law, he asserted that his constitutional oath to preserve the Union took precedence over the observation of a single law protecting habeas corpus.
Ex parte Merryman and Debates on Civil Liberties During the Civil War