General Walter Short, in collaboration with the Territorial Governor of Hawaii proclaimed martial law in Hawaii on 7 December 1941. The Army commanders who succeeded Short maintained martial law, along with suspending the right of "habeas corpus", and in late 1943 a test case challenging this suspension was brought to court. Federal Judge Delbert Metzger ordered the Military Governor to allow two German Americans then being held in military custody to appear in court, and when Richardson refused to comply, Metzger charged him with contempt and issued a $5,000 fine. He was later pardoned by President Roosevelt.