[830 c-r] March 1863 "Habeas Corpus Act."
In 1863 Congress explicitly empowered Lincoln to suspend the privilege of the writ during the war.
The Real Lincoln, by Thomas DiLorenzo, pp. 139-40.
The administration protected itself from criminal prosecution for depriving so many citizens of their constitutional rights by orchestrating the passage of an "indemnity act" in 1863 that placed the president, his cabinet, and the military above the law with regard to unconstitutional and arbitrary arrests. This law was at odds with the centuries-old principle that no man (especially a government official) is above the law. It was well established at the time that official governmental conduct that deprived citizens of their constitutional rights or caused them private injury or harm was prosecutable under criminal law. The indeminity law (sponsored by Pennsylvania Senator Thaddeus Stevens) never received enough votes from the U.S. Senate to become law; the presiding officer of the Senate simply declared the law valid, adjourned the Senate, and let the dissenters voice their protests.