THE SUSPENSION CLAUSE, AND LINCOLN’S POSSIBLE CONSTITUTIONAL ABROGATION

This review is a critical analysis of the caselaw of Habeas Corpus in the United States, as applied to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s authorization of the suspension of Habeas Corpus by U.S. Army command staff during the American Civil War. The constitutional challenges to the authority of the chief executive to exercise suspension of Habeas Corpus are outlined and the motivations of the chief executive to nonetheless exercise an authority that was at best unclear at the time are identified. This manuscript concludes that the weight of textual interpretation of the U.S. Constitution as well as precedent were against such an exercise of power by the President, setting a precedent for executive authority that has gone largely unresolved to the modern day