Argued on March 5, 1866, and decided on April 3, 1866, the case of Ex parte Milligan is a landmark decision that reaffirmed the limits of presidential power in the administration of order in the wake of the American Civil War. Lambdin Milligan was arrested for anti-Union activities in Indiana on October 5, 1864. Milligan was a citizen of Indiana, which had remained part of the Union. In December of that same year, Milligan was sentenced to death by a military tribunal. In May 1865, President Andrew Johnson commuted Milligan’s sentence to life imprisonment. Milligan did not argue his guilt or innocence but instead challenged that the military tribunal for Milligan was unconstitutional when civil courts were operating simultaneously in the same jurisdiction. The federal circuit courts could not decide if Milligan’s trial was constitutional and referred the case to the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling. The Supreme Court agreed that the military tribunal had overstepped its authority, and Milligan was released from prison.