Andrew Johnson Administration - Johnson and the Judiciary
Johnson and the Judiciary
During Andrew Johnson's administration there were no appointments made to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Court did hand down a series of key decisions. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase also carried out his constitutional duty during Johnson's impeachment by presiding over the Senate and acting as chief judge as it heard the House of Representatives's case against the president.
In Texas v. White (1869), a case about whether creditors could recover monies loaned to the Confederate government of Texas, the Supreme Court took the opportunity to write into U.S. constitutional law the status of the states during the American Civil War (1861–65) and describe the nature of nation. In the case, Chief Justice Chase took the Lincoln administration's position regarding secession and the American Civil War: the states had never been out of the Union, and the state governments had been taken over by illegal...
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