It is the last Constitutional Calendar of the year by the noted Probate Jurist Milton Hirsch. And it is a good one. And then if you need some holiday reading, check out the concluding paragraph for purchase information.
Lambdin P. Milligan was a “Copperhead” – he didn’t like the Civil War or the way Lincoln was prosecuting it, and he wasn’t unwilling to say so. Military authorities convened a military commission, tried and convicted him, and sentenced him to death. All this took place in Indiana, where there was no Confederate army and the civil courts were open and functioning.
Before the Supreme Court, Attorney General Stanbery and former Attorney General Butler argued that the power of the executive to conduct war was unfettered by law. Inter arma silent leges.
Justice David Davis rejected that position in the language for which he is best remembered. “The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances.” See Ex Parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866).
Although today J. Davis’s opinion is considered a pillar of the rights of liberty, at the time it was released it generated enormous controversy. Southern editorialists argued vehemently that, after Milligan, Union forces should be withdrawn from the former confederacy and trials of crimes – notably, of the many murders of newly-freed blacks by vengeful and angry whites – should be left to local courts and local juries. Not a few Northerners viewed Davis’s ruling as a surrender in the courtroom of what had been bitterly won on the battlefield.
Milligan died on this date, December 21, in 1899.
The Constitutional Calendar will be taking the remainder of the year off, resuming in early 2021. To fill the gap in your leisure reading, and to better enjoy the holidays, read The Wheel of Justice, the last novel in my Judge Clark Addison mystery trilogy, available from Amazon for a paltry $14 and some cents.
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The Captain Reports:
COVID CENTRAL
COVID-19 ADVISORY #57
SELF-MONITORING NOTICE
Three individuals who worked in the locations and on the dates listed below have tested positive for COVID-19.
Persons identified as having been in close proximity to the confirmed individuals are being notified and will be asked to take all necessary precautions.
Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, 175 NW 1st Ave.:
Courtroom 2D on Dec. 7, 10, 14 and 17, 2020
Room 236 on Dec. 7, 10, 14 and 17, 2020
Room 1120 on Dec. 17, 2020
Staff area in front of Room 1123 on Dec. 7 and 17, 2020
Last date worked: Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020
Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, 1351 NW 12 St.:
Room 116
Room 124
Room 8300
Room 8312
Last dates worked: Dec. 7-11 and Dec. 14-17, 2020
Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, 1351 NW 12 St.:
Room 413
Room 9000 Clerk’s Office Court Operations Unit
9th Floor Clerk’s Office File Room
Last date worked: Dec. 16, 2020
Persons who were in these locations recently should follow self-monitoring steps for the next 14 days as outlined in the Centers for Disease Control website at:
Cap Out ....
Our constitutional freedoms can withstand a civil war but not the wuhan flu I guess.
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