Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln's wartime suspension of habeas corpus brought executive detention into direct conflict with judicial authority. Chief Justice Taney, sitting as a circuit judge in 1861, held that the suspension power belonged to Congress. Congress authorised suspension for the duration of the war in 1863, while also requiring arrest reports and release of prisoners not promptly indicted. The resulting change was a contested wartime allocation of power, bounded by legislation, rather than an uncontested presidential right to suspend ordinary legal protection indefinitely.