# Ex parte McCardle **Status: stub — expand.** Vote counts to be verified against Oyez before they are stated here. Congress repealed the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction over habeas appeals brought under the **Habeas Corpus Act of 1867** *while McCardle's case was pending and after argument*, and the Court held it had no choice but to dismiss. William McCardle, a Mississippi newspaper editor held for military trial under Reconstruction, had used the very statute Congress had just passed to expand the writ. Congress withdrew the jurisdiction rather than risk a ruling against military Reconstruction. **Why it matters:** the canonical precedent for **jurisdiction stripping** — the demonstration that a right's practical availability can be removed without touching the right itself. Every modern habeas restriction, from [[Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act]] to § 1252(e)(2) in the immigration statute, is a descendant of this move. ## See Also - [[Habeas Corpus Timeline]] · [[Habeas Corpus]] · [[Suspension Clause]]