As my link above showed, from the Judiciary Act of 1789:
Section 14.
And be it further enacted, That all the before-mentioned courts of the United States, shall have power to issue writs of scire facias, habeas corpus, and all other writs not specially provided for by statute, which may be necessary for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions, and agreeable to the principles and usages of law. And that either of the justices of the supreme court, as well as judges of the district courts, shall have power to grant writs of habeas corpus for the purpose of an inquiry into the cause of commitment. —— Provided, That writs of habeas corpus shall in no case extend to prisoners in gaol, unless where they are in custody, under or by colour of the authority of the United States, or are committed for trial before some court of the same, or are necessary to be brought into court to testify.
Since the application for the writ had come to him as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, it was a matter for him as Chief Justice to decide, not Taney riding the District Court circuit. Taney said the District Court could not act in this matter. I figure he knew the law better than you.
The Baltimore District Court building happened to be where Taney issued the ruling rather than Washington 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. He had his decision filed at the District Court but that doesn't make it a District Court ruling. He issued Ex Parte Merryman as an "at Chambers" decision, not as a District Court decision. The paperwork shows it.
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. Merryman was arrested for having Southern sympathies and drilling a company of Maryland militia who had federal weapons. IMO, they didn't have an adequate reason for the arrest, otherwise they would have responded to Taney's writ. Merryman was ultimately released after about seven weeks in prison immediately after Congress demanded a list of people being held without charges.
So much excitement was caused by some of these arrests that the House of Representatives in special session, July 12, 1861, asked for information regarding them, and for a copy of the opinion of the attorney-general sustaining the right of the President or his subordinates to order such arrests. [Link]
Merryman was released on July 13, the day after the Congressional inquiry above. [Merryman Release]
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.