List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 71

None

This is a list of cases reported in volume 71 (4 Wall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1866 and 1867.

In 1874, the U. S. government created the United States Reports, and retroactively numbered older privately published case reports as part of the new series. As a result, cases appearing in volumes 1–90 of U. S. Reports have dual citation forms; one for the volume number of U. S. Reports, and one for the volume number of the reports named for the relevant reporter of decisions (these are called "nominative reports").

Starting with the 66th volume of U. S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was John William Wallace. Wallace was Reporter of Decisions from 1863 to 1874, covering volumes 68 through 90 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 23 of his Wallace's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, Thompson v. Bowie is 71 U. S. (4 Wall.) 463 (1867). Wallace's Reports were the final nominative reports for the US Supreme Court; starting with volume 91, cases were identified simply as "(volume #) U. S. (page #) (year)".

The Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which says: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . ". The size of the Court is not specified; the Constitution leaves it to Congress to set the number of justices. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices). Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice). When the cases in 71 U. S. (4 Wall.) were decided the following nine justices were members of the Court:

Portrait Justice Office Home State Succeeded Date confirmed by the Senate(Vote) Tenure on Supreme Court Salmon P. Chase Chief Justice Ohio Roger B. Taney December 6, 1864(Acclamation) December 15, 1864–May 7, 1873(Died) James Moore Wayne Associate Justice Georgia William Johnson January 9, 1835(Acclamation) January 14, 1835–July 5, 1867(Died) Samuel Nelson Associate Justice New York Smith Thompson February 14, 1845(Acclamation) February 27, 1845–November 28, 1872(Retired) Robert Cooper Grier Associate Justice Pennsylvania Henry Baldwin August 4, 1846(Acclamation) August 10, 1846–January 31, 1870(Retired) Nathan Clifford Associate Justice Maine Benjamin Robbins Curtis January 12, 1858(26–23) January 21, 1858–July 25, 1881(Died) Noah Haynes Swayne Associate Justice Ohio John McLean January 24, 1862(38–1) January 27, 1862–January 24, 1881(Retired) Samuel Freeman Miller Associate Justice Iowa Peter Vivian Daniel July 16, 1862(Acclamation) July 21, 1862–October 13, 1890(Died) David Davis Associate Justice Illinois John Archibald Campbell December 8, 1862(Acclamation) December 10, 1862–March 4, 1877(Resigned) Stephen Johnson Field Associate Justice California newly created seat March 10, 1863(Acclamation) May 10, 1863–December 1, 1897(Retired)

Ex parte Milligan, 71 U. S. (4 Wall.) 2 (1866), is a Supreme Court decision that ruled unconstitutional the application of military tribunals to citizens when civilian courts are still operating. The Court held that "martial rule can never exist when the courts are open", and confined martial law to areas of "military operations, where war really prevails" and when it was a necessity to provide a substitute for a civil authority that had been overthrown.

Ex parte Garland, 71 U. S. (4 Wall.) 333 (1866), is an important case involving the disbarment of former Confederate officials. The Supreme Court ruled that a statute prohibiting former Confederate government officials from serving in the US government was unconstitutional as being both a bill of attainder and an ex post facto law. The Court also held that lawyers are officers of the court, not officers of the United States, and that their removal must be an exercise of judicial power, not legislative power.

Mississippi v. Johnson, 71 U. S. (4 Wall.) 475 (1867), was the first suit to be brought against a President of the United States in the United States Supreme Court. The state of Mississippi attempted to sue President Andrew Johnson for enforcing Reconstruction. The Court ruled in favor of the president.

Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) jurisdiction; and the United States Supreme Court, which had appellate jurisdiction over the federal District and Circuit courts—and for certain issues over state courts. The Supreme Court also had limited original jurisdiction (i. e., in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region. Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions. "C. C. D." = United States Circuit Court for the District of . e. g.,"C. C. D. N. J." = United States Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey
"D." = United States District Court for the District of . e. g.,"D. Mass." = United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
"E." = Eastern; "M." = Middle; "N." = Northern; "S." = Southern; "W." = Western
e. g.,"C. C. S. D. N. Y." = United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York
e. g.,"M. D. Ala." = United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
"Ct. Cl." = United States Court of Claims
The abbreviation of a state's name alone indicates the highest appellate court in that state's judiciary at the time. e. g.,"Pa." = Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
e. g.,"Me." = Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower Court Disposition Stearns v. United States 1 (1867) per curiam none none not indicated certiorari granted Brobst v. Brobst 2 (1867) Chase none none not indicated remanded Ex parte Milligan 2 (1866) Davis Chase none C. C. D. Ind. certification McGee v. Mathis 143 (1866) Chase none none Ark. reversed United States v. Hoffman 158 (1867) Miller none none N. D. Cal. prohibition denied Walker v. United States 163 (1866) Chase none none C. C. E. D. La. dismissed Brown v. Wiley 165 (1867) Chase none none Sup. Ct. D. C. dismissed Locke v. City of New Orleans 172 (1867) Field none none La. affirmed Sturdy v. Jackaway 174 (1867) Grier none none C. C. E. D. Ark. certification Missouri and Mississippi Railroad Company v. Rock 177 (1867) Miller none none Iowa dismissed United States v. Dashiel 182 (1866) Nelson none none W. D. Tex. reversed United States v. Allsbury 186 (1866) Nelson none none W. D. Tex. affirmed Leftwitch v. Lecanu 187 (1867) Miller none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed City of New York v. Sheffield 189 (1867) Miller none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Christy v. Pridgeon 196 (1866) Field none none E. D. Tex. affirmed Lanfear v. Hunley 204 (1866) Swayne none none La. affirmed Witherspoon v. Duncan 210 (1867) Davis none none Ark. affirmed Rutherford v. Geddes 220 (1867) Miller none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Evans v. Patterson 224 (1867) Grier none none C. C. W. D. Pa. affirmed Hughes v. United States 232 (1866) Field none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Mitchell v. St. Maxent's Lessee 237 (1866) Davis none none N. D. Fla. affirmed People ex rel. Duer v. City of New York 244 (1867) Nelson none Chase N. Y. affirmed Graham v. United States 259 (1867) Field none none D. Cal. affirmed Brown v. Bass 262 (1867) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Mitchell v. Burlington and Mount Pleasant Plank Road Company 270 (1867) Clifford none none C. C. D. Iowa reversed Larned v. Burlington and Mount Pleasant Plank Road Company 275 (1867) Clifford none none C. C. D. Iowa reversed Cummings v. Missouri 277 (1867) Field none Miller Mo. reversed Ex parte Garland 333 (1867) Field none Miller original confirmed to bar Barrows v. Kindred 399 (1867) Swayne none none C. C. S. D. Ill. reversed United States v. Hathaway 404 (1867) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. Mich. certification United States v. Quimby 408 (1867) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. Mich. certification Gilman v. Lockwood 409 (1867) Clifford none none C. C. D. Wis. reversed The Moses Taylor 411 (1867) Field none none San Francisco County Ct. reversed Semple v. Hagar 431 (1867) Grier none none Cal. dismissed Rock Island County v. United States 435 (1867) Swayne none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed Davidson v. Lanier 447 (1867) Chase none none N. D. Miss. reversed Bradley v. Illinois 459 (1867) Nelson none none Ill. reversed Thompson v. Bowie 463 (1867) Davis none Grier Sup. Ct. D. C. reversed Mississippi v. Johnson 475 (1867) Chase none none original dismissed Saulet v. Shepherd 502 (1867) Grier none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Bentley v. Coyne 509 (1867) Clifford none none C. C. E. D. Mich. affirmed Purcell v. Miner I 513 (1867) Grier none none Sup. Ct. D. C. affirmed Purcell v. Miner II 519 (1867) Grier none none Sup. Ct. D. C. rehearing denied Commissioner of Patents v. Whiteley 522 (1867) Swayne none none Sup. Ct. D. C. reversed Von Hoffman v. City of Quincy 535 (1867) Swayne none none C. C. S. D. Ill. reversed The Hine v. Trevor 555 (1867) Miller none none Iowa reversed Newell v. Nixon 572 (1866) Clifford none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Sparrow v. Strong 584 (1867) Chase none none Nev. dismissed Bell v. Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company 598 (1867) Davis none none N. D. Miss. affirmed Ryan v. Thomas 603 (1867) Chase none none Mo. dismissed Pearson v. Duane 605 (1867) Davis none none C. C. D. Cal. certification Ware v. United States 617 (1867) Clifford none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed The Nassau 634 (1867) Davis none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed United States v. Le Baron 642 (1866) Miller none none C. C. S. D. Ala. reversed New Orleans Railroad Company v. Lindsay 650 (1866) Swayne none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Robbins v. City of Chicago 657 (1867) Clifford none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed United States v. McMasters 680 (1866) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed