Merryman was also accused of burning railroad bridges and cutting telegraph wires between Washington and states north. The suspension of the writ at that time was limited to the corridor between Philadelphia and Washington.

Taney was acting in his capacity as a federal circuit judge, not as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (although that was how he signed his opinion). Arrested on May 25, 1861, Merryman was released in early July and was later indicted by a grand jury for conspiracy to commit treason. He was released on $40,000 bail, but the case never came to trial because Taney, ruling that he must preside over the case, continued it repeatedly citing ill health and wouldn't let another circuit judge hear it in his place - a rather ironic outcome considering that the whole point of a writ of habeas corpus is demanding that the State show that there is a legal basis for arresting the accused. James F. Simon, "Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President's War Powers," pp. 186-198 (Simon & Schuster, NY, 2006).