One of the men agitating for such a course was Lambdin P. Milligan, an Indiana lawyer and politician whose outspoken opposition to the war and alleged ties to a secret association called the Sons of Liberty led to a conviction for treason by a military tribunal. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in a decision that continues to influence our jurisprudence, especially in the war on terror. The strong pro-Union forces in the state soon condemned the Peace Democrats as "Copperheads", implying their disloyalty to the true principles of the Union and comparing them to poisonous snakes. In 1862 the war was not going well for the Union, and in that year's elections the Indiana Democrats seemed poised to take over the state government from the Constitutional Union Party, a branch of the national Republican Party. The strong antiwar sentiment led Milligan to make a bold proposal.