The opponents of radical reconstruction were anxious to get the reconstruction laws of March 1867, before the Court.
Chief Justice Chase was known to be opposed to military reconstruction, and four other justices were, it was believed, doubtful of the constitutionality of the laws.

A series of conservative decisions gave hope to those who looked to the Court for relief.

The first decision, in the case of ex parte Milligan, declared unconstitutional the trials of civilians by military commissions when civil courts were open.

A few months later, in the cases of Cummings vs.

Missouri and ex parte Garland, the Court declared invalid, because ex post facto, the state laws designed to punish former Confederates.
But the first attempts to get the reconstruction acts before the Supreme Court failed.