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After the Civil War, Congress imposed military government on many former Confederate States under the authority of the Civil War Reconstruction Acts. McCardle (D), a Mississippi newspaper editor, was held in military custody on charges of publishing libelous and inflammatory articles. D brought a habeas corpus writ claiming that Congress lacked the constitutional authority to establish a system of military government in the United States. The Act authorized federal courts to grant habeas corpus to persons held in violation of constitutional rights and gave authority for appeals to the Supreme Court. The Circuit Court denied D's habeas corpus writ, but the Supreme Court sustained jurisdiction for an appeal on the merits. However, after arguments were heard, Congress passed an act on March 27, 1868, that repealed the portion of the 1867 Act that allowed an appeal to the Supreme Court from the Circuit Court and the exercise by the Supreme Court of jurisdiction on any such appeals, past or present.

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