So you're saying Supreme Court decisions aren't matters of public record? I have a hard time believing that. Are the the workings of some Star Chamber? Made in secret and kept secret? Something the public has no right to know about? Hardly. Taney filed his decision with the Maryland District Court because that was the court where the matter lay, not becasue it was a Supreme Court decision that somehow couldn't be published.
And what about the jurisdictional question? You insist that Ex Parte Merryman was a Supreme Court decision, yet according to Article III the Supreme Court had appellate jurisdiction in this matter. So who rendered the original decision? And a Supreme Court decision handed down by a single justice speaking for the entire court. As I mentioned earlier, and at the risk of admitting my ignorance in this area, I'm not aware of a single Supreme Court case decided by a single justice. I always thought Supreme Court decisions needed a majority of the justice to agree, yet you say that single justices can act on a case alone. Can you provide me with other cases where a single justice issued a decision for the court so I can improve my understanding of the judiciary? I would really appreciate it.
The petition for the writ went directly to the Chief Justice in Washington, not to the District Court in Baltimore. Taney stated so himself in Ex Parte Merryman. As I have pointed out, the Judiciary Act of 1789 says:
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.
Thus, the habeas corpus inquiry in this case was not a District Court matter. General Cadwallader's response to the writ of habeas corpus was addressed to Taney as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, not the District Court. Taney's actual decision was listed as a decision of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, not the District Court. If a Supreme Court Justice can receive writs of habeas corpus, then he can decide if the defendant was being illegally held or if the writ was being denied. That's the purpose of a habeas corpus hearing. Taney's decision addressed that.
Taney's decision had the full force of the court behind it. The only reason the writ was not enforced was the army following Lincoln's command. Lincoln did not challenge Taney's decision which is still valid and cited in Supreme Court cases. He just ignored it knowing Taney couldn't fight the army.
Probably one of the most famous single-justice decisions was that of Justice Hugo Black in supporting the contested election of Lyndon Johnson in 1948. Black did this in the face of the fact that the full court itself could have heard the case in three weeks. Black's ruling put Johnson into the Senate despite seemingly clear evidence that Johnson had lost the election.