# Writ of habeas corpus *Court order for release from detention. In the Minnesota record: the 1859 writs issued for Oscar F. Jackson, and the 1996 federal restriction on the writ.* In the record assembled for this wiki, the writ of habeas corpus appears in two documented settings. The first is the spring of 1859. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice [[Isaac Atwater]] issued two writs of habeas corpus for [[Oscar F. Jackson]], who was lynched in Wright County on April 25, 1859, according to the composite account of the [[Wright County War]].[^1] The second is federal. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act was signed on April 24, 1996, and the project's time table records it as restricting the writ.[^2] The local court record of 1859 does not survive to show what became of the writs. The Minnesota Historical Society finding aid for the [[Wright County District Court]] records states that the court's earliest holdings begin in 1881 and that the 1859 case file does not survive.[^3] The Society's finding aid for Governor Sibley's records locates a folder, *Letters Received, 1859: Wright County Affair* (box 154.J.14.1B). Its contents have not been retrieved.[^4] ## What In 1859 the writs were orders from a justice of the state's highest court. The project's at-issue record describes them as an order that Jackson be released, and records that he was hanged on April 25, 1859.[^1] The Wikipedia composite account says it was drawn from contemporaneous newspaper reporting. That account dates the writs circa April 11–13, 1859. The at-issue record, citing a Minnesota courts library guide, gives April 11 and April 13, 1859.[^1] The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (S. 735, 104th Congress) was signed on April 24, 1996.[^2] The project's time table describes the act as following Oklahoma City ("post-OKC") and as one that "restricts habeas corpus permanently."[^2] The pack does not carry the statute's text, so the specific restrictions are not set out here. ## Who - **Isaac Atwater**, a justice of the [[Minnesota Supreme Court]], is named as the issuing judge of both writs.[^1] - **Oscar F. Jackson** is the person for whom the writs were issued. He is named as Oscar Jackson in the at-issue record. According to the Wikipedia account:[^1] - Henry A. Wallace was found murdered in September 1858. - Jackson was arrested in October 1858. - A jury acquitted Jackson on April 3, 1859. - He was re-arrested on a theft charge on April 8, 1859. - **Governor Sibley** issued a reward proclamation of $500 on April 29, 1859, four days after the lynching, according to the same account.[^1] His correspondence on the matter is the unretrieved folder noted above.[^4] ## When - September 1858: Wallace found murdered (per the account).[^1] - October 1858: Jackson arrested.[^1] - April 3, 1859: Jackson acquitted by a jury.[^1] - April 8, 1859: Jackson re-arrested on a theft charge.[^1] - April 11 and April 13, 1859: Atwater's two writs (circa April 11–13 in the Wikipedia account).[^1] - April 24, 1859: a mob besieged the Holdship farmstead.[^1] - April 25, 1859: Jackson lynched.[^1] - April 29, 1859: Sibley's $500 reward proclamation.[^1] - April 24, 1996: Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act signed.[^2] ## Where The 1859 events took place in Wright County. The account places the April 24 siege at the Holdship farmstead.[^1] The surviving Wright County District Court records do not reach back to 1859.[^3] ## How The documented sequence runs as follows: - Jackson was acquitted. - He was re-arrested five days later. - Two writs issued from a Supreme Court justice. - A mob besieged the Holdship farmstead. - Jackson was lynched.[^1] After the lynching came the governor's reward proclamation and a militia roster. The roster included the Pioneer Guards, St. Paul City Guards, Stillwater Guards and Dakota Rifles; the pack's copy of the list is truncated.[^1] The record does not establish how, or whether, the writs were served or answered. The case file does not survive,[^3] and the governor's 1859 folder on the affair has not been read.[^4] ## How much The governor's reward proclamation of April 29, 1859, was for $500, per the Wikipedia account.[^1] ## How many Two writs were issued for Jackson, on two dates two days apart.[^1] Twelve days separated the second writ from the lynching.[^1] ## In the at-issue record The project pairs the 1859 writs (pair AI-Humphrey-052, rank 52) with a presidential action of April 2025, *Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens*.[^5] The pair's stated rationale is that "a judicial order that the local apparatus does not execute is the enforcement failure." That rationale is the project's framing, not a finding of either source. The presidential action does not refer to the 1859 events.[^5] The pair lists a single court-library source (mncourts.libguides.com), for which the pack carries no URL. ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - Isaac Atwater, justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, issued the writs; Oscar F. Jackson was their subject.[^1] ### When - April 11 and 13, 1859 (writs); April 25, 1859 (lynching).[^1] ### Where - Wright County, Minnesota.[^1][^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Wright County War* (composite account drawn from contemporaneous newspaper reporting) — Wallace murder, Jackson's arrest, acquittal and re-arrest, Atwater's writs circa April 11–13, 1859, Holdship siege April 24, lynching April 25, $500 reward April 29, militia roster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_County_War [^2]: U.S. Congress, *S. 735, Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act* (1996-04-24) — the act's signing; the project time table's description of it as restricting habeas corpus. https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/735 [^3]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Wright County District Court records*, finding aid gr02765 — earliest holdings begin 1881; the 1859 case file does not survive. https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-finding-aids-public/library/findaids/gr02765.html [^4]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Governor Sibley records*, finding aid gov015 — folder *Letters Received, 1859: Wright County Affair*, box 154.J.14.1B, located; contents not retrieved. https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-finding-aids-public/library/findaids/gov015.html [^5]: The White House, *Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens* (April 2025) — the presidential action used as the anchor of at-issue pair AI-Humphrey-052. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/strengthening-and-unleashing-americas-law-enforcement-to-pursue-criminals-and-protect-innocent-citizens/