Editing Henry Stanbery (section)

===U.S. Supreme Court nomination===
On April 16, 1866, President [[Andrew Johnson]] nominated Stanbery as an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|associate justice]] on the [[United States Supreme Court]], to fill the vacancy created by the death of [[John Catron]].<ref name=SCNs>{{cite web| title=Supreme Court Nominations: present–1789| url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nominations/SupremeCourtNominations1789present.htm| publisher=Office of the Secretary, United States Senate| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=April 5, 2022}}</ref> The [[Radical Republicans|Republicans]] who controlled Congress were at odds with Johnson over post-Civil War [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]]. Therefore, rather than consider the Stanbery nomination, Congress instead passed the [[Judicial Circuits Act]] in July 1866 reducing the size of the Supreme Court.<ref name="Enquirer"/>

Prior to being nominated, in March 1866, Stanbery assisted Attorney General [[James Speed]] in arguing ''[[Ex parte Milligan]]'' before the Supreme Court. In its decision the Court held that military tribunals for civilian defendants were illegal in jurisdictions where the civilian criminal justice system was functioning.<ref name="Constitution_Encyclopedia">{{cite book |editor1-last=Levy |editor1-first=Leonard W. |editor2-last=Karst |editor2-first=Kenneth L. |date=2000 |title=Encyclopedia Of American Constitution |volume=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfAmericanConstitution |location=New York, NY |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |pages=1736, 2471 |isbn=978-0-02-864880-4 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>