"Ex parte McCardle" concerned the legal authority of the occupying Union Army. Confederate Colonel William L. McCardle, the editor of the "Vicksburg Times", was charged with defying military authority by inciting rebellion, libeling federal officials, and intimidating voters. After the circuit court denied him a writ of habeas corpus, McCardle appealed to the Supreme Court. Carpenter argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over a president's official acts, as in a similar case of his, "Georgia vs. Grant". Rather than claiming the Union's "right of conquest," Carpenter said the Southern states had surrendered their constitutional protections when they had seceded, essentially reverting to territories.