In the Matter of Keeler.
the State tribunals with the authority of the United States on the other.
Whenever a case is presented embraced within the provision alluded to, no difficulty would be felt by me in issuing the writ, since the power to do it is clear, and there is nothing in the subject to prevent it or render it improper. The military is subordinate to the civil authority, and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus cannot be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. Const. art. 2, sec. 9. It is only in that event the writ cannot be issued. There is no other restriction. In the Matter of Stacy, 10 Johns. 333, Kent, Ch. J., said: "It is the indispensable duty of this court, and one to which every inferior consideration must be sacrificed, to act as a faithful guardian of the personal liberty of the citizen, and to give ready and effectual aid to the means provided by law for its security. Nor can we hesitate in promptly enforcing a due return to the writ when we recollect that in this country, the law knows no superior; and that in England their courts have taught us, by a series of instructive examples, to exact the strictest obedience to whatever extent the persons to whom the writ is directed may be clothed with power or exalted in rank." And accordingly in that case the court did not hesitate to award an attachment for contempt against Morgan Lewis, a general of division in the army of the United States, (August, 1813,) commanding at Sackett's Harbor, for a refusal to obey the writ.
In the sentiments expressed by the chief justice on that occasion, I fully concur and will add that there is no officer, civil or military, so exalted, except the president of the United States, as not to be subject to this writ, and none so low as to escape its operation. The officer and the citizen must alike yield to its mandate. The president himself would not be exempt because he is above the law or because he can do no wrong, but because he cannot be held responsible except through the medium of impeachment, and to allow the writ to go to him, would involve the necessity of punishing him for a refusal to obey it, and such a power does not belong to the judiciary. The power to issue the writ in this case and compel obedience to it, is clear;
