Which is complete nonsense. Taney issued the writ of habeas corpus from the circuit court bench. He issued his decision from the circuit court bench. He did not make a decision for the entire Supreme Court.
Taney said the District Court could not act in this matter.
And just when did he say this?
I figure he knew the law better than you.
Both of us seem to be doing better than you.
I think because he didn't want to give any excuse to the Lincoln Administration not to deliver the prisoner who was being held in Baltimore.
You think. Well here are three links, one, two, three, to three sources calling it a circuit court case. There are books like "Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney" by James F. Simon that say it was a circuit court case. Here is a site, link, that makes it clear it was a circuit court case. The only people who seem to think otherwise are you and 4CJ.
If the government had had an adequate reason for arresting Merryman they should have brought him before the Chief Justice who issued the writ to validate Merryman's arrest.
There was no requirement to do so. Habeas corpus had been suspended.
Merryman was ultimately released after about seven weeks in prison immediately after Congress demanded a list of people being held without charges.
That is only partly true. Merryman was released in July to face charges before a Baltimore grand jury which didindicted him on charges of conspiracy to commit treason and freed him on $40,000 bail. Chief Justice Taney ruled that he must preside at Merryman's trial and then spent the rest of his life delaying such a trial, postponing it time and again by pleading ill health. At the same time he refused to order another federal judge to take his place. The irony in all this is striking. Taney issues the writ to produce Merryman in court, and once the government does he spends the rest of his life blocking any attempts to clear Merryman's name.
I’d think that the big “CIRCUIT COURT, D. MARYLAND” at the top of the decision would be a tip off.
[ns]: And just when did he say this?
Taney said this to the crowd in the courthouse on May 28, 1861, upon taking his seat at the bench. I provided the reference for this above. I'll repost it and highlight it in blue this time in case you can't see red font. From the Baltimore Sun, May 29, 1861:
Chief Justice Taney, upon taking his seat on the bench, said that he desired to state that his associate, Judge Giles, of the Circuit Court, was present with him yesterday by his invitation, because he desired to avail himself of his counsel and advice in so important a case. The writ of habeas corpus was ordered by him as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, consequently Judge Giles could not act with him in the case.
[rb]: I think because he didn't want to give any excuse to the Lincoln Administration not to deliver the prisoner who was being held in Baltimore.
[ns]: You think.
Read the decision, non-seq. Here's Chief Justice Taney in the decision:
The petition was presented to me, at Washington, under the impression that I would order the prisoner to be brought before me there, but as he was confined in Fort McHenry, in the city of Baltimore, which is in my circuit, I resolved to hear it in the latter city, as obedience to the writ, under such circumstances, would not withdraw General Cadwalader, who had him in charge, from the limits of his military command.
Well here are three links, one, two, three, to three sources calling it a circuit court case. There are books like "Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney" by James F. Simon that say it was a circuit court case. Here is a site, link, that makes it clear it was a circuit court case. The only people who seem to think otherwise are you and 4CJ.
There seem to be a few others ...
From Lincoln's Constitution, p. 17, by Daniel Farber:
Technically he did not issue it in his capacity as a judge 'on circuit' but rather as an 'in chambers' opinion of the chief justice.
From Carl Brent Swisher, Roger B. Taney, The MacMillan Company, published October 1935, reprint June 1936, pp. 551.
An audience of some two thousand people assembled on the fol¬lowing day to witness the outcome of the struggle between the Chief Justice and the military authorities. Leaving the Campbell home in the company of his grandson, Taney remarked that he might be imprisoned in Fort McHenry before night, but he was going to court to do his duty. As he took his place he announced that he acted alone rather than with Judge Giles because of the fact that he was sitting not as a member of the circuit court, but as Chief Justice of the United States. One reason for the distinction, undoubtedly, was the belief that it would lend added weight to the decision.
Michael Stokes Paulsen, The Merryman Power and the Dilemma of Autonomous Executive Branch Interpretation, points out that some scholars erroneously treat Merryman as a circuit court case.
Someone, GOPcapitalist or nolu chan, long ago posted a photo of the front page of the decision where it is labeled as an "at Chambers" decision. I quoted the photo above above. I searched a few thousand archived posts tonight but couldn't find the photo. Perhaps it was in a deleted thread. However, I did find reference to the front page as follows [emphasis mine, source is The Constitutional Puzzle of Habeas Corpus by Edward A Hartnett, a Seton Hall law professor, Link]. I extract a few key sentences below that indicate the original printed label and Taney's own handwritten version:
Although the report of the decision in Federal Cases ... includes a caption denominating the case as one decided by the Circuit Court for the District of Maryland in its April 1861 term, the reproduction of the original opinion is captioned, "Before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, at Chambers." ... See Carl B. Swisher, The Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States: The Taney Period 1836–64, at 848 & n.25 (1974) ( referring to a draft in Chief Justice Taney's longhand and noting that Chief Justice Taney labeled his opinion "Before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States at Chambers" ) ...