[4CJ]

"Then enlighten us, please. When was the question of the legality of Lincoln's actions authoritatively answered?"

NS, please see post #460. Unless of course, you too dismiss the citations of three separate opinions and justices, including Walt's revered Justice Marshall who made it plain as day.

[Non-Sequitur]

I read it. Ex Parte Merryman was a decision issued from the Circuit Court bench in Baltimore, not the Supreme Court. All it is is an indication of how Taney would have voted had the matter come to the Supreme Court, but he was only one voice. Ex Parte Milligan said that habeas corpus could not be suspended in states like Indiana which were not in rebellion and where the courts operated freely. It did not address Lincoln's actions in 1861. It appears that Chief Justice Rehnquist's opinions are correct, but then he knows more about the law and the Constitution than you.