Today in Supreme Court History: January 1

Blake v. United States, 103 U.S. 227 (decided January 1, 1880): (Wikipedia has this being decided on January 1 though all Westlaw says is “October Term”.) In those days the President evidently had to appoint every army or navy officer, and an 1862 statute gave him the power to dismiss, but an 1866 statute said the officer could be removed only via court-martial. Here, an army “post-chaplain”’s resignation was accepted by the President but the man later said he was “insane” at the time. His claim for back pay was held to be time-barred, even taking into account a toll for insanity. This case wins some points for strangeness.