February 12, 2007

Augustus Hill Garland of Hempstead County was prohibited from practicing law due to his service in the Confederate Congress during the Civil War. Garland contested the 1865 law that debarred him, arguing that the law was ex post facto and therefore unconstitutional. Garland’s argument was confirmed when, in 1867, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor in Ex parte Garland. The decision opened the door for him to serve as governor, U.S. senator, and as U.S. attorney general under President Grover Cleveland.