The Trump administration infamously doesn’t understand how habeas corpus works, but when cornered are quick to point to Abraham Lincoln suspending the writ during the Civil War, suggesting that Trump could do the same because people with temporary status waiting on citizenship are kinda like Confederate saboteurs. Lincoln ultimately pulled back from the suspension until granted approval by Congress, BUT he did refuse to acquiesce to the Supreme Court when Chief Justice Roger Taney riding circuit tried to hold the commander of the military governor district of Maryland in contempt for refusing to turn over the subject of Ex Parte Merryman.
What was that military commander’s Biglaw connection?
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Hint: His second cousin, who had graduated from Harvard Law the year before the Merryman episode, would go on to big things in Biglaw. [Ed. note: Seth Tillman wrote in with the helpful correction that Taney was riding circuit at the time and that Maryland didn’t get a military *governor*, with Cadwalader serving as commander of the military district at the time.]
See the answer on the next page.