State Of Maryland Letter Of Authorization: Fill & Download for Free

This was a seminal case in fixing the relative authority and power between the States and the Federal government. One must remember that this case was decided in 1819 when the country was very young. It put the authority of the federal government in direct conflict with that of the states. Not only had the federal government incorporated a bank, it placed a branch of that bank in the state of Maryland, in direct competition with that state's banks.The State argued that the Constitution was a grant of authority from the states and, as such, that the state was the supreme sovereignty. The McCulloch court disagreed, holding that the Constitution "emanates from the people" and that the Union, not the state, is the supreme sovereign. It in effect established the supremacy of the federal government over the states. That seems clear today, but there was no such clarity at the time this case was decided.The court next determined whether Congress had authority under the Constitution to incorporate a federal bank. Since the power to incorporate was not enumerated in Article 1 Section 8, this required a reading of the "necessary and proper" clause. The state of Maryland urged a restrictive reading of the clause. They asked the court to interpret "necessary and proper" as allowing Congress only the most direct and simple means of exercising their enumerated powers. The state also argued that the power to incorporate was a sovereign power which would have been enumerated if it were intended to be given to Congress.Again, the court rejected the State' s argument. It gave an expansive interpretation to the clause. Necessary and proper, it was held, means convenient, useful or essential. Thus, if the end be legitimate, all means which are consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution are appropriate. Incorporation of a bank was held to be a convenient, useful and essential power that Congress could exercise toward the legitimate end of discharging its fiscal obligations.The last issue that the Court had to decide was whether the State may impose a tax on the operations of the National Bank. The Court, of course, held the State could not do so. "The power to tax is the power to destroy." Such power over the Union could not be given to the States. While a state may exercise this power over its citizens, it must always answer to those citizens in the electoral process. When levying a tax upon a Federal corporation, there is no such constituency to hold the State in check. The State could simply tax the bank out of existence without answering to any one. The court distinguished between the tax the State of Maryland levied specifically on the operations of National Bank and a tax that all those located or doing business in the State might be required to pay. The former was prohibited, while allowance was made for the latter.It is also in this opinion that Chief Justice Marshall uttered the immortal phrase "we must never forget it is a constitution we are expounding."

The reason for US not joining the international investigation is that there are gigantic elephants in the room which US rather avoid having anyone talk about them.Deadly Germ Research Is Shut Down at Army Lab Over Safety ConcernsBioweapons lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland had been experiencing issues with its sanitation and safety systems from May 2018 until July 2019, when CDC shut it down via a cease and desist order.In that period and immediately following that, numerous cases in the area were seen, whose symptoms were similar to covid, but were labeled as ‘vaping related’ or ‘flu’ for lack of awareness of the virus.Officials: At Least 1,300 Flu Deaths Reported So Far This Flu Season, Including 4 In MarylandFlu spread significantly in all states except Alaska as of the week ending December 7. Both the eastern and western United States are being hit hard, with widespread flu activity in 23 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.In Maryland, 14,000 people have visited the emergency room this season due to influenza-like illness and 176 people have been hospitalized. Thirty-six of those hospitalizations came in the first week of December.Some of these cases were labeled as ‘vaping related’.Vaping-Related Illnesses Triple In Maryland In Recent WeeksThe Maryland Health Department now says cases of vaping related illnesses have tripled in recent weeks.The number of cases in the State of Maryland has now increased to 15. That’s up from five reported cases at the end of last month.“They’re extremely short of breath, have low oxygen levels and you look at their X-ray and it looks like dense pneumonia, but it’s not pneumonia in the sense of an infection, it’s respiratory failure, the lungs are failing,” Mercy Lung Center Director Albert Polito said.In Virginia as well, various cases of ‘mystery pneumonia’ was seen later.Cause of Respiratory Illness Still Unknown After Dozens Sickened at Virginia Retirement CommunityThe outbreak in Greenspring retirement community began June 30. Sick residents had symptoms such as coughs, fever and pneumonia.Recent findings show that larger US states also had coronavirus much earlier than what was thought.New signs suggest coronavirus was in California far earlier than anyone knew“The virus was freewheeling in our community and probably has been here for quite some time,” Dr. Jeff Smith, a physician who is the chief executive of Santa Clara County government, told county leaders in a recent briefing.How long? A study out of Stanford suggests a dramatic viral surge in February.Autopsies reveal first confirmed U.S. coronavirus-related deaths occurred in California in FebruaryAutopsies reveal that other regions of the world also had covid cases way before February. Like in Lombardy, Italy, where covid was thought to have made its first outbreak in the West.‘Strange pneumonia’ seen in Lombardy in NovemberA “strange pneumonia” was circulating in northern Italy as long ago as November, weeks before doctors were made aware of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, one of the European country’s leading medical experts said this week, the South China Morning Post reported.“They [general practitioners] remember having seen very strange pneumonia, very severe, particularly in old people in December and even November,” Giuseppe Remuzzi, the director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, said in an interview with the National Public Radio of the United States.On top of that, US conducted a national pandemic preparation exercise around November 2019.Pandemic simulation exercise spotlights massive preparedness gapSenior scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health SecurityThat center's latest pandemic simulation, Event 201, dropped participants right in the midst of an uncontrolled coronavirus outbreak that was spreading like wildfire out of South America to wreak worldwide havocIt gets worse - a Seattle doctor was able to detect coronavirus in January.Covid-19 Arrived in Seattle. Where It Went From There Stunned the Scientists.Doctor who treated first US coronavirus patient says COVID-19 has been 'circulating unchecked' for weeksNick Malik's answer to Do residents in states that are being hit hard by coronavirus (i.e., NY, CA, and WA) feel like President Trump cares about them?CDC sent her a cease and desist order and told her to not continue testing for the virus.As you will understand, this is something particularly damning for US administration. An American doctor detected covid way back in January, but was ordered not to continue testing.After that, US refused to use WHO approved, ready test kits which the rest of the world was using, and instead started a protracted process of producing its own kits, which delayed the availability of kits for a long time.How testing failures allowed coronavirus to sweep the U.S.“Please provide an explanation for why the Covid-19 diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization was not used,” Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate health committee, who represents the hard-hit state of Washington, asked in a 3½-page letter on the testing fiasco to Pence, Health Secretary Alex Azar, CDC director Robert Redfield, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn.The rest of US response has been pretty incompetent as well: The president has said covid was a hoax, only to change his stance later.Not only Trump, but at that point in time, entire US establishment was downplaying the pandemic and criticizing China for ‘overreacting’ and ‘being tyrannical’.Afterwards, US administration left states to handle their own responses, but prevented them from buying medical supplies from China, forcing states to try to acquire supplies secretly…Pritzker arranging secret flights from China to bring millions of masks and gloves to IllinoisGov. J.B. Pritzker is planning to obtain millions of masks and gloves from China and bring those supplies back to Illinois on charter jets — but he’s keeping the details secret out of fear the Trump administration might seize the cargo for the federal stockpile, sources said Tuesday.Illinois Gov. Pritzker Secretly Bought Medical Supplies From China. And The White House Is Not Happy.States had to enter bidding wars against each other to acquire PPE, masks and so on.States are bidding against each other and the federal government for important medical supplies — and it's driving up pricesLacking supplies from the federal government, states and localities have had to find their own. That’s created a market with many bidders, including the federal, state and local governments along with individual consumers, likely contributing to higher prices.Governors across the country have expressed their frustration with the situation.Providers in bidding war with states, federal agencies on medical suppliesBy that point, not only there was no tangible and consistent federal response, but the national response of US was all over the place across different states.…Moreover, there has ben international incidents in which US got into scuffles with other countries.US accused of ‘piracy’ after mask shipment is diverted from GermanyA German official accused the US of “modern piracy” after a shipment of medical masks intended for German police were reportedly diverted to the states, a sign of how hot the international market for protective equipment has become.About 200,000 N95 masks were “confiscated” in Bangkok as they were being transferred between planes in Thailand, Berlin authorities told the BBC.Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute…As you will understand from the above progression of events, any international and objective inquiry to the origin of the virus and the response to the virus would be very, very bad for US administration and US establishment in general. For that reason, US would rather avoid any investigation that involves itself at all.

Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the United States’ most beloved president, widely adored for ushering the country through the trying times of the American Civil War and abolishing slavery……also suspended habeas corpus.Now, let’s lay the groundwork. First we’ll define what habeas corpus is, for anyone who isn’t aware. In the United States, when a person is arrested by the police on suspicion of a crime, a court can issue a writ of habeas corpus—a piece of paper which requires the arresting authority to either demonstrate ample cause for the arrest (say, by filing charges) or release the detainee.Second, let’s look and see where the state of Maryland is on a map, in relation to the northern and southern United States:Yup. Smack dab in the middle.April, 1861.[1] War had broken out between the Union in the north and the Confederacy in the south. Abraham Lincoln called for the northern states to send militia troops to Washington, D.C. Naturally, any troops coming from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Rhode Island had to pass through Maryland on their way to the nation’s capital. Quite a number of Marylanders were against the idea of making war on the South, and riots broke out. Mobs of angry Marylanders even attacked federal troop transports.A number of Maryland politicians were leery of war with the South. These included Thomas Hicks (the governor), George Brown (the mayor of Baltimore), and almost the entire Maryland state legislature. Fearful of further rioting and violence, the legislature voted against opening rail lines to the North. The legislature also officially petitioned President Lincoln to remove the growing numbers of federal troops piling up in their state. Lincoln refused. Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown then asked Lincoln to prevent the crossing of any more troops through Maryland. Lincoln again refused.Not long after this little incident, Lincoln asked Attorney General Edward Bates whether it would be possible to suspend habeas corpus.Edward BatesNow, I’ll grant you that Lincoln’s back was against the wall. Washington, D.C. is quite close to Virginia. The Confederate capital was in Virginia—Richmond, just a hundred miles south. Almost everything south of D.C. was Confederate territory—and the Confederate armies were massing for an attack, too. Lincoln had to get those troops to Washington. He had no time for pettifogging Maryland politicians obstructing the movement of his precious blue-clad soldiers.On April 27, 1861, Lincoln authorized Union troops to suspend habeas corpus if they encountered any resistance on the “military line” throughout Maryland.On April 29, the Maryland legislature voted against allowing federal troops to use Maryland as a highway to Washington. Governor Hicks then allegedly authorized the Maryland state militia to destroy several key railroad bridges that the Union was using to move its troops southward.Militia lieutenant John Merryman was arrested on May 25 for his role in destroying railroad bridges at the Bush and Gunpowder Rivers. He was charged with treason, taken to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, and there imprisoned.John MerrymanMerryman’s lawyers lost no time. They headed straight to Washington and barged into the offices of Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (and author of the infamous Dred Scott decision), demanding a writ of habeas corpus. Taney issued the writ the day after Merryman’s arrest, May 26. The writ ordered General George Cadwalader, the commander of the military district wherein Fort McHenry was located, to bring Merryman before Taney the next day, without fail.Roger B. TaneyGeneral Cadwalader sent one of his colonels to Justice Taney on May 27. The colonel bore a letter from Cadwalader explaining to Taney that, under orders from President Lincoln, the Federal Army had suspended habeas corpus in Maryland for the time being, that Merryman was being held for treason, doncha know, and for being illegally in possession of U.S. government arms, dude, and, like, advocating armed hostility against the federal government and all that jazz. Cadwalader advised Taney that these were dark and dangerous times, and it was perhaps better to err on the side of national security. Due to the complex nature of the issues at stake and the dire nature of the charges being leveled against Merryman, Cadwalader politely asked Taney for an extension so he (Cadwalader) could seek clarification from President Lincoln.George CadwaladerWell, one doesn’t just say “no” to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Taney fired back the 1861 equivalent of a “Oh hell NAW you didn’t” to Cadwalader. Then the incensed Taney went one step further: he held Cadwalader to be in contempt of court. Taney ordered a U.S. Marshal to arrest Cadwalader and haul his sorry carcass up in front of Taney the next day.The marshal dutifully knocked on the door of Fort McHenry on May 28, but the sentries refused to let him in. Rumor has it that Cadwalader, earlier that day, had received orders from U.S. Army headquarters telling him to keep holding Merryman at all costs, Chief Justice Taney be damned. Whether that’s true or not, Cadwalader had decided to stand his ground. He ordered his sentries to turn the marshal away.Taney filed a written opinion with the United States Circuit Court for the District of Maryland on June 1, 1861. In it, he put Lincoln on blast for bestowing unlimited power on himself. His wording was quite strong:These great and fundamental laws, which Congress itself could not suspend, have been disregarded and suspended, like the writ of habeas corpus, by a military order, supported by force of arms. Such is the case now before me, and I can only say that if the authority which the Constitution has confided to the judiciary department and judicial officers, may thus, upon any pretext or under any circumstances, be usurped by the military power, at its discretion, the people of the United States are no longer living under a government of laws, but every citizen holds life, liberty and property at the will and pleasure of the army officer in whose military district he may happen to be found.The crux of Taney’s argument was that only Congress, not the President, had the right to suspend habeas corpus, and then only in the most dire of circumstances.Now, technically, Lincoln hadn’t done anything wrong. Not according to the Constitution, anyway. As Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution says:The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.Lincoln clearly thought that habeas corpus was indeed a privilege and not a right, and it could be suspended if the public safety required it, and that in this particular case, the public safety most certainly did require it. And he resented Taney for putting up a stink.Lincoln defended his suspension of habeas corpus in a speech he gave to Congress on July 4, 1861, framing the question as he saw it: a choice between strict interpretation of constitutional law, or the dissolution of the Union.The whole of the laws which were required to be faithfully executed were being resisted and failing of execution in nearly one-third of the States. Must they be allowed to finally fail of execution, even had it been perfectly clear that by the use of the means necessary to their execution some single law, made in such extreme tenderness of the citizen's liberty that practically it relieves more of the guilty than of the innocent, should to a very limited extent be violated? To state the question more directly, Are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the Government itself go to pieces lest that one be violated? Even in such a case, would not the official oath be broken if the Government should be overthrown when it was believed that disregarding the single law would tend to preserve it? But it was not believed that this question was presented. It was not believed that any law was violated. The provision of the Constitution that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it” is equivalent to a provision—is a provision—that such privilege may be suspended when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It was decided that we have a case of rebellion and that the public safety does require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested with this power; but the Constitution itself is silent as to which or who is to exercise the power; and as the provision was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it can not be believed the framers of the instrument intended that in every case the danger should run its course until Congress could be called together, the very assembling of which might be prevented, as was intended in this case, by the rebellion.On July 10, a grand jury in Baltimore indicted Merryman for treason. The allegations were damning. Merryman was accused of “wickedly, maliciously, and traitorously” waging war upon the United States, with the assistance of 500 armed men. He was charged with destroying no fewer than six railroad bridges as well as telegraph lines, with the aim of hindering Union troops from crossing the state and severing their lines of communication. Merryman posted his $20,000 bail and was released, pending trial.But the case never came to trial. Since treason was punishable by death, it would have to be tried in a federal circuit court. At that time, Supreme Court justices also served as circuit court judges. There were only two federal judges for the U.S. Circuit Court in the District of Maryland: our good friend Roger B. Taney and another man named William F. Giles (who, interestingly enough, had had one of his own writs of habeas corpus ignored by William W. Morris, the commander of Fort McHenry, just a short time prior to the Merryman affair).But the vindictive Taney would have none of it. Though repeatedly asked to schedule hearings for the accused, Taney declined time and time again. Taney justified his obstructionism by proclaiming that neither Merryman nor anyone else who’d been indicted would get a fair trial in Maryland. (He also claimed his health was poor and this was a really bad time for him to be handing down orders from the bench, cough cough.) Taney resisted all attempts made by federal authorities to replace him and put enough pressure on Judge Giles to ensure that Giles wouldn’t hear the case by himself.This brouhaha dragged on for years. In 1864, Taney wrote: “I will not place the judicial power in this humiliating position nor consent to degrade and disgrace it, and if the district attorney presses the prosecutions I shall refuse to take them up.”Taney died in 1864, still bitter. For whatever reason, Salmon P. Chase, who became Chief Justice and circuit court judge for Maryland after Taney’s death, also refused to conduct any Merryman hearings.I’d love to be able to tie a neat bow around this story and wrap it up for you, but this is where it ends. Everything just sort of fizzled out. The war ended. Lincoln was assassinated. Merryman never saw the inside of a federal prison, let alone a gallows, and later became Maryland’s State Treasurer.But let’s stop and think about this for a moment. This is Abraham Lincoln we’re talking about. Freer of the slaves. Preserver of the Union. Savior of America. Inspirational leader, speaker, and writer. Millions of Americans’ favorite American.You can almost see the halo around his head.And yet, despite his sterling reputation as a lover of freedom, democracy, and unity, Lincoln somehow believed that he had the right to throw a man in jail indefinitely, without charges, representation, due process of law, trial, or possibility of parole. Because, in his sainted opinion, an abstract noun (“public safety”) was in jeopardy.Take a minute to let that sink in. The man who often gets the credit for freeing the slaves, the beneficent patriarch who preserved the Union and led the young United States through arguably what was its greatest moral, legal, and existential crisis, basically believed that he had the right to interpret the Constitution as he saw fit, tell the judiciary to go pound sand, and imprison anyone for any length of time during a national crisis. At his sole discretion.It’s really quite disturbing when you allow yourself to contemplate it.Footnotes[1] President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War