Prisoners of the Senate
Por Anthony Lewis, a former Times columnist (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 15/11/05):
After the Northern victory in the Civil War, laws passed by Congress during the era of Reconstruction imposed military governments on the former Confederate states. A Mississippi editor, William H. McCardle, was arrested by the military and charged with publishing incendiary and libelous articles. He was held for trial before a military commission. But he went to a federal court and sought his release on a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that military rule of civilians was unconstitutional.
When McCardle lost in the trial court, he appealed to the Supreme Court, as the statute allowed.… Seguir leyendo »