''Ex parte Garland'', 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 333 (1867), was an important

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

case involving the disbarment of former Confederate officials.

Background

In January 1865, the US Congress passed a law that effectively disbarred former members of the Confederate government by requiring a

loyalty oath Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...

to be recited by any federal court officer that affirmed that the officer had never served in the Confederate government. Augustus Hill Garland, an attorney and a former Confederate Senator from

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, subsequently received a pardon from US President Andrew Johnson. Garland then came before the court and pleaded that the act of Congress was a

bill of attainder A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder, writ of attainder, or bill of pains and penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of people, guilty of some crime, and providing for a punishment, often without a ...

and an ''ex post facto'' law, which unfairly punished him for the crime for which he had been pardoned, and so was unconstitutional.

Decision

In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court held that the law was both a

and an '' ex post facto'' law, both forbidden by Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution. The court also ruled that the president can exercise the pardon power at any time after the commission of the crime, and that Garland was beyond the reach of punishment of any kind because of his prior presidential pardon.On limitations to the president's pardon power, see: The court also stated that counselors are officers of the court, not officers of the United States, and that their removal was an exercise of judicial power, not legislative power. The law was struck down as unconstitutional, which opened the way for former Confederate government officials to return to positions in the federal judiciary.

Notes

External links

* * {{Reconstruction Era 1866 in United States case law United States Supreme Court cases of the Chase Court United States clemency case law United States Constitution Article One case law United States ex post facto case law Reconstruction Era United States Supreme Court cases