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an important case decided by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1866. In 1860 A. H. Garland, of Arkansas, was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States as attorney and counselor, taking the oath then required. In 1862 Congress passed an act requiring all candidates for office to take oath that they had never in any way engaged in hostility against the Union. In 1865 all persons admitted to the bar of the U. S. Courts were required to take this oath. Garland participated in the war against the Union, but was freely pardoned. He entered a plea before the .Supreme Court in 1866 against his taking the prescribed oath of 1865, saying it was unconstitutional and void as affecting his status in court, and that his pardon released him from compliance with it, even if it were constitutional. His plea was granted by the court, on the ground that the act was ex post facto.