but when chief justice roger towny acting in his capacity as a federal sir curt judge challenged lincoln's suspension of the writ in maryland early in the war, the president simply ignored it. but barely resisted, supposedly, an inclination to have the chief arrested for interfering. during the war, the court did not again attempt to judge lincoln on the matter of arbitrary arrests, much less press oppression. but that's not the story for tonight. although clearly lincoln's use of the war power to suspend the writ of habeus corpus is relevant. and in his view, and i'll quote him again, "as the provision was plainly made for a dangerous emergency " -- it cannot be believed that the framers intended that the danger should run its course until congress could be called together the very assembling of which might be prevented by the rebellion itself." the specific topic for tonight, of course, is the less ambiguous guarantee in the first amendment, congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. again, lincoln determined that in a case of rebellion, especially while