Research Guides: Lincoln, Habeas Corpus and the Suspension of Civil Liberties During the Civil War: Law Review & Journal Articles

The Federal Phoenix

Courtesy of The Lehrman Institute and The Lincoln Institute.

CRS Reports & Briefs

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of Congress. Below please find a list of some of the most recent documents related to this topic:

Federal Habeas Corpus: A Brief Legal Overview
Apr. 26, 2006
Federal Habeas Corpus Relief: Background, Legislation, and Issues
Feb. 1, 2006
Congressional Research Service

Additional Resources

James A. Dueholm, Lincoln’s Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus: An Historical and Constitutional Analysis, 29 J. Abraham Lincoln Ass'n, no. 2, 2008 at 47.

Bruce A. Ragsdale, Am. Historical Ass'n, Fed. Judicial History Off., ex parte Merryman and Debates on Civil Liberties During the Civil War (2007).

Law Review & Journal Articles

The following articles represent some of the most recent legal scholarship on issues relating to the topic (by date).

Please see HeinOnline, LexisNexis, Westlaw and SSRN for additional articles.

Abraham Lincoln: Preserving the Union and the Constitution
Louis Fischer, 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 503 (2010).
Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties—Then and Now: Old Wine in New Bottles
Hon. Frank J. Williams, 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 533 (2010).
The Great Suspender's Unconsitutional Suspension of the Great Writ
Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 575 (2010).
Lincoln Versus Taney: Liberty, Power, and the Clash of the Constitutional Titans
Timothy S. Huebner, 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 615 (2010).
A Different View of the Law: Habeas Corpus During the Lincoln and Bush Presidencies
Jonathan Hafetz, 12 Chap. L. Rev. 439 (2009).
A Comparative Historical Analysis of War Time Procedural Protections and Presidential Powers: From the Civil War to the War on Terror
Kyndra Rotunda, 12 Chap. L. Rev. 449 (2009).
International Law and Domestic Legitimacy: Remarks Prepared for Lincoln's Constitutionalism in Time of War: Lessons for the Current War on Terror?
Scott Sullivan, 12 Chap. L. Rev. 489 (2009).
Lincoln and Habeas: Of Merryman and Milligan and McCardle
John Yoo, 12 Chap. L. Rev. 505 (2009).
Trading Civil Liberties for Apparent Security is a Bad Deal
Marjorie Cohn, 12 Chap. L. Rev. 615 (2009).
Justifying Wartime Limits on Civil Rights and Liberties
Robert J. Pushaw, Jr., 12 Chap. L. Rev. 675 (2009).
Lincoln and Judicial Authority
Michael Stokes Paulsen, 83 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1227 (2008).
Abraham Lincoln Commander in Chief or "Attorney in Chief"
Hon. Frank J. Williams, 18 Experience 13 (2008). [HeinOnline]
"The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions": Lincoln, the Powers of the Commander in Chief, and the Constitution
Michael Les Benedict, 29 Cardozo L. Rev. 927 (2008). [HeinOnline]
Lincoln, the Constitution of Necessity and the Necessity of Constitutions: A Reply to Professor Paulsen
Michael Kent Curtis, 59 Me. L. Rev. 1 (2007).
Suspending Habeas Corpus: Article I, Section 9, Clause 2, or the United States Constitution and the War on Terror
Tor Ekeland, Comment, 74 Fordham L. Rev. 1475 (2005).
Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties: Then & Now—The Southern Rebellion and September 11
Hon. Frank J. Williams, 60 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 463 (2004).
The Power to Suspend Habeas Corpus: An Answer from the Arguments Surrounding Ex Parte Merryman
Jeffery D. Jackson, 34 U. Balt. L. Rev. 11 (2004).
The Constitution of Necessity
Michael Stokes Paulsen, 79 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1257 (2004). [HeinOnline]
Abraham Lincoln, Civil Liberties and the Corning Letter
Hon. Frank J. Williams, 5 Roger Williams U. L. Rev. 319 (2000). [HeinOnline]
Presidential Power to Suspend Habeas Corpus: The Taney-Bates Dialogue and Ex Parte Merryman
Martin S. Sheffer, 11 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 1 (1986). [HeinOnline]
When Lincoln Suspended Habeas Corpus
David L. Martin, 60 A.B.A. J. 99 (1974).
Lincoln and Taney: A Study in Constitutional Polarization
Robert M. Spector, 15 Am. J. Legal Hist. 199 (1971). [HeinOnline]
Ex Parte Merryman: The Showdown Between Two Great Antagonists: Lincoln and Taney
Joseph C. Long, 14 S.D. L. Rev. 207 (1969). [HeinOnline]
Executive Power, Presidential Government and Abraham Lincoln
C. Kenneth Snyder, 1959 Acta Juridica 235. [HeinOnline]
The Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus by President Lincoln
Sherrill Halbert, 2 Am. J. Legal Hist. 95 (1958). [HeinOnline]
Taney and Lincoln
Monroe Johnson, 16 A.B.A. J. 499 (1930). [HeinOnline]