sentences:  In the subsequent case of "Ex parte Merryman," Chief Justice Taney asserted that only Congress had the right to suspend habeas corpus.In a message to Congress delivered in July 1861, Lincoln responded by arguing that his actions had been constitutional and necessary given the threat posed by the Confederacy.Congress later passed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act 1863, which provided congressional authorization to the president to suspend habeas corpus and placed limits on the administration's ability to indefinitely hold prisoners.