The Flimsy Case Against Mary Surratt

[L Verge]

Another Mike - Welcome to the forum. When I advised Mr. G (the Mike of the Moment) to read further on the Milligan case, I was referring to historic cases of the 20th century that have been cited in relation to the legality of the 1865 Tribunal. Here is an excerpt from an excellent review done by Dr. Thomas R. Turner (one of the first academic historians to embrace the research of us amateurs) upon the publication of Steers's The Trial:

Another area that Steers tackles head on is the military trial. Many authors citing the 1866 Supreme Court decision Ex parte Milligan, which stated that military tribunals were illegal if the civil courts were open and functioning, have argued that all of the defendants were unjustly tried. However, Steers is one of the few historians to vigorously argue that the military tribunal was legal.

Steers believes that rather than being a universal condemnation of military trials, the Milligan decision was much more limited in its application. In his view, the conspirators were civilians who were aiding the enemy in time of war in the nation's capital and in making an attack on the commander-in-chief they were opening themselves to the possibility of military justice. Steers backs his position by citing a similar opinion from Attorney General James Speed, an 1868 decision by Judge Thomas Boynton where he denied Mudd's request for a writ of habeas corpus ruling explicitly that the Milligan decision did not apply to Mudd, and the trial of German saboteurs during World War II which was reviewed by the Supreme Court in the case Ex parte Quirin. The Quirin trial, held before a secret military court, involved the trial of eight German nationals, six of whom were hanged.

If I remember correctly the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Judge Rehnquist, wrote on this subject also in All the Laws but One. We also had a former JAG officer and current law professor, Burrus Carnahan, speak on the legality of the Commission several years ago at a Surratt Conference. He upheld the court's legality. Being aware of details like this is what causes me to find fault with faulty comments. I have spent too many years of my life trying to spread good, documented history -- and in quite a few cases have actually changed my mind when hit with better evidence.