Ex Parte McCardle

William McCardle (defendant), a Vicksburg, Mississippi newspaper editor, was arrested by federal officials for publishing articles harshly critical of Reconstruction and the resulting military rule of the South, allegedly in violation of the Reconstruction Acts. After failing to obtain habeas relief in federal court in Mississippi, McCardle sought appellate review in the Supreme Court under an 1867 statute granting the Court appellate jurisdiction over such habeas matters. While his appeal was pending, Congress passed a new law repealing that jurisdictional grant; President Johnson vetoed the repeal, but Congress overrode the veto.