The Flimsy Case Against Mary Surratt

[RJNorton]

(01-15-2019 01:46 PM)mike86002000 Wrote:  Actually there was an attempted assassination of Andrew Jackson years earlier. The assassin was tried in a civilian court.

Mike

But, unless I am mistaken, there was no war going on at that time.

In 1863 Clement Vallandigham was tried by a military tribunal.

General Ambrose Burnside charged Vallandigham with the following crimes:

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Publicly expressing, in violation of General Orders No. 38, from Head-quarters Department of Ohio, sympathy for those in arms against the Government of the United States, and declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions, with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the Government in its efforts to suppress an unlawful rebellion.

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A military tribunal heard the case, and Vallandigham offered no serious defense against the charges. He contended that military courts had no jurisdiction over his case. The tribunal found Vallandigham guilty and sentenced him to remain in a United States prison for the remainder of the war.

Vallandigham's attorney, George Pugh, appealed the tribunal's decision to Humphrey Leavitt, a judge on the federal circuit court. Pugh, like his client, claimed that the military court did not have proper jurisdiction in this case and had violated Vallandigham's constitutional rights. Judge Leavitt rejected Vallandigham's argument. He agreed with General Burnside that military authority was necessary during a time of war to ensure that opponents to the United States Constitution would not succeed in overthrowing the Constitution and the rights that it guaranteed United States citizens.

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Clem...llandigham

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(Bold print above is mine)

It is my personal opinion that Judge Leavett was correct.

It is my personal opinion that when the Commander-in-Chief is assassinated in time of war a military tribunal is the proper method to try the people charged with conspiring with John W. Booth.