The writ of habeas corpus is an extraordinary remedy because it gives a court the power to release a prisoner after the prisoner has been processed through the criminal justice system, with all its procedural safeguards and appeals.
Noun. 1. Roger Brooke Taney-United States jurist who served as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court; remembered for his ruling that slaves and their descendants have no rights as citizens (1777-1864).
Chesterfield Smith-Chesterfield Smith was president of the American Bar Association in 1973-1974, during the Watergate scandal. Although he had supported Nixon's 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns, Smith became an outspoken critic of Nixon after the Saturday Night Massacre. On the Sunday following the Saturday Night Massacre, Smith drafted a statement and said, No man is above the law..