Ex parte Milligan
E879576
Ex parte Milligan is an 1866 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the use of military tribunals for civilians when civil courts are open, reinforcing constitutional protections during wartime.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Ex parte Milligan canonical | 4 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10673742 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ex parte Milligan Context triple: [Chase Court, notableCase, Ex parte Milligan]
-
A.
Ableman v. Booth
Ableman v. Booth was an 1859 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed federal supremacy over state courts in enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act before the Civil War.
-
B.
United States v. Cruikshank
United States v. Cruikshank was an 1876 U.S. Supreme Court decision that severely limited federal enforcement of civil rights protections, especially against racially motivated violence in the Reconstruction-era South.
-
C.
Ex parte Merryman
Ex parte Merryman was an 1861 U.S. federal court case in which Chief Justice Roger B. Taney challenged President Abraham Lincoln’s authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War.
-
D.
Slaughter-House Cases
The Slaughter-House Cases were an 1873 U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowly interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause, significantly limiting its protection of civil rights against state infringement.
-
E.
Ex parte McCardle
Ex parte McCardle is an 1869 U.S. Supreme Court case best known for affirming Congress’s power to limit the Court’s appellate jurisdiction under Article III of the Constitution.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ex parte Milligan Target entity description: Ex parte Milligan is an 1866 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the use of military tribunals for civilians when civil courts are open, reinforcing constitutional protections during wartime.
-
A.
Ableman v. Booth
Ableman v. Booth was an 1859 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed federal supremacy over state courts in enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act before the Civil War.
-
B.
United States v. Cruikshank
United States v. Cruikshank was an 1876 U.S. Supreme Court decision that severely limited federal enforcement of civil rights protections, especially against racially motivated violence in the Reconstruction-era South.
-
C.
Ex parte Merryman
Ex parte Merryman was an 1861 U.S. federal court case in which Chief Justice Roger B. Taney challenged President Abraham Lincoln’s authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War.
-
D.
Slaughter-House Cases
The Slaughter-House Cases were an 1873 U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowly interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause, significantly limiting its protection of civil rights against state infringement.
-
E.
Ex parte McCardle
Ex parte McCardle is an 1869 U.S. Supreme Court case best known for affirming Congress’s power to limit the Court’s appellate jurisdiction under Article III of the Constitution.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
ⓘ
habeas corpus case ⓘ legal decision ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
civil liberties
ⓘ
constitutional law ⓘ military law ⓘ |
| backgroundEvent | American Civil War NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| citation |
18 L. Ed. 281
ⓘ
71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2 ⓘ |
| concurringOpinionBy |
Noah H. Swayne
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Salmon P. Chase NERFINISHED ⓘ Samuel F. Miller NERFINISHED ⓘ Stephen J. Field NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| constitutionalProvisionInterpreted |
Article III of the United States Constitution
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution NERFINISHED ⓘ Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution NERFINISHED ⓘ Suspension Clause NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1866-04-03 ⓘ |
| fullCaseName | Ex parte Milligan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasJurisdiction | United States federal law ⓘ |
| holding |
military tribunals cannot try civilians when civil courts are open and functioning
ⓘ
the application of military tribunals to citizens when civilian courts are open is unconstitutional ⓘ the laws and Constitution of the United States are not suspended in wartime in loyal states where courts are open ⓘ |
| impact |
limited federal government’s ability to use military tribunals for civilians
ⓘ
reinforced judicial protection of civil liberties during wartime ⓘ |
| keyPrinciple |
civilian courts have primacy over military tribunals when open
ⓘ
constitutional protections apply in wartime as well as in peace ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| legalIssue |
application of constitutional rights in wartime
ⓘ
suspension of habeas corpus ⓘ use of military tribunals for civilians ⓘ |
| locationOfEvents | Indiana NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy | David Davis NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| militaryBodyInvolved | military commission in Indiana ⓘ |
| partyDescription | Lambdin P. Milligan was a civilian resident of Indiana NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| petitioner | Lambdin P. Milligan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedCase |
Boumediene v. Bush
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Ex parte Quirin NERFINISHED ⓘ Hamdan v. Rumsfeld NERFINISHED ⓘ Hamdi v. Rumsfeld NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedDoctrine |
martial law
ⓘ
separation of powers ⓘ |
| respondent | United States NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| result |
Milligan’s military conviction declared void
ⓘ
writ of habeas corpus granted ⓘ |
| term | 1865 term ⓘ |
| vote | 9–0 ⓘ |
| yearDecided | 1866 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Ex parte Milligan Description of subject: Ex parte Milligan is an 1866 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the use of military tribunals for civilians when civil courts are open, reinforcing constitutional protections during wartime.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Ex parte Quirin
subject surface form:
Ex parte Quirin