John Merryman

John Merryman was a wealthy Maryland farmer and lieutenant in a state militia secessionist company who was arrested by Union troops on May 25, 1861 and held at Fort McHenry without charges, after Lincoln suspended habeas corpus along the rail lines from Philadelphia to Washington. Chief Justice Roger Taney, sitting on circuit, issued the writ in Ex parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 (C.C.D. Md. 1861), holding that only Congress could suspend habeas. Lincoln ignored the order and Merryman remained at Fort McHenry until July 13, 1861, when he was indicted for treason and released on bail. He was never tried; the case was nolle prossed in 1865. Merryman is the foundational habeas-suspension precedent.