Judge Merrick is supposed to have been detained in October 1861, long after the rebellion had begun. Also, Judge Merrick was a judge in the District of Columbia. So what did any of this have to do with Virginia and North Carolina?
What it has to do with them is that you are trying to deflect the point, a good one, by changing the subject and inviting our attention to irrelevancies.
The point is, Lincoln levied red war on two unseceded States because the courts weren't open. Then he did the same thing to Judge Merrick that, when supposedly done by North Carolina e.g. (accepting Lincoln's charge against them arguendo), merited sending an army.
He was a practical hypocrite, in other words. Have to close up now -- lightning all around! Zowie! That was close......'bye, y'all!
"To dole out patronage, Pierce and his Cabinet {which included Sec. Treasury James Guthrie of KY; Sec. of War Jefferson Davis of MS; Sec. of Navy James Dobbin of NC; fellow doughface Sec. of State William Marcy of NY; and Attorney General Caleb Cushing of MA, who who show his stripes later when he bolted the Northern/Douglas wing of the Democrat Party to preside over the nomination of John Breckinridge} met daily, with two considerations dominating the agenda: distribution among the factions and geographical representation. The latter was necessary for congressional approval." (L. Gara, The Presidency of Franklin Pierce)
It is also said that Pierce "made no appointment that would offend southern sensibilities." Pierce appointed several rabidly pro-southern judges to high positions. Regarding one such appointment a newspaper opined, "If President Pierce wishes to create an anti-slavery sentiment that nothing short of the total abolition of slavery will quiet, he cannot accomplish in any other way as soon as by ... such tools of slave power."
One of the major problems which faced Lincoln early in the War was an entrenched, sometimes disloyal, pro-southern judiciary.