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).
Roger Brooke Taney was born on March 17, 1777, in Calvert County, Maryland. He served as attorney general and secretary of the treasury before being appointed the Supreme Court's fifth chief justice in 1836.