William Matthew Merrick

William Matthew Merrick (September 1, 1818–February 4, 1889) was a United States Circuit Court judge for the District of Columbia and congressman from the fifth district of the state of Maryland.

Early life, career, and family

Merrick was born near Faulkner, Maryland and graduated from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1831. He studied law at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, was admitted to the bar in Baltimore in 1839, and commenced practice in Frederick, Maryland, in 1844. He served as deputy attorney general for Frederick County, Maryland, from 1845 to 1850.

Merrick's father, William Duhurst Merrick, was a United States Senator from Maryland.

Associate Justice of the D.C. Circuit Court

Merrick moved to Washington, D.C. in 1854 when he was appointed as associate justice of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, a position he served in until 1863. While in this position, he is best known for his role in the case of Murphy v. Porter during the American Civil War, when he issued a writ of habeas corpus to James Murphy. President Abraham Lincoln, who had suspended habeas corpus despite his actions being ruled unconstitutional in "Ex parte Merryman", extended the suspension to the District of Columbia where the writ was refused. In retaliation for the writ, Lincoln ordered Merrick placed under house arrest to prevent the meeting of the Circuit Court panel to review Murphy's case.

The Circuit Court panel met anyway, absent Merrick, on October 19, 1861 and issued a contempt of court citation against General Andrew Porter, the Provost Marshal for the District of Columbia who commanded the soldiers holding Merrick under house arrest. President Lincoln again intervened blocking the Deputy United States Marshal from serving the contempt citation against Porter. The Circuit Court reconvened and ruled that Lincoln had "seen fit to arrest the process of this Court" in violation of the Constitution.

During the affair Lincoln also ordered Secretary of State William H. Seward to suspended Merrick's salary - an act that is also prohibited by the United States Constitution. Merrick was released from house arrest in December.

Maryland political career

He resumed the practice of law in Maryland, and was a professor of law at Columbian College (now George Washington University) in Washington, D.C. in 1866 and 1867. He served as the Howard County representative to the 1867 Maryland Constitutional Convention. This followed the election of 1866 when the pro-Union politicians lost power and pro-slavery Democrats replaced them. They sought to rewrite the Constitution of 1864, which they believed to be pro-Union. The convention was called at the request of Governor Thomas Swann, a Democrat elected in 1866.

In 1870, he served as a Democrat in the Maryland House of Delegates representing Howard County. In 1871, he was sworn in to serve as a Democrat to Congress, serving the fifth district that included Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, St. Mary's and part of Baltimore County. All five of Maryland's Congressmen were Democrats. He only served one term and, after redistricting, was replaced by William J. Albert, a Republican.

After his service in Congress, Merrick resumed the practice of law. He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as associate judge of the supreme court of the District of Columbia in 1885 and served until his death in Washington, D.C. He is interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

References

*CongBio|M000655