Main content September 24 is the anniversary of the establishment of the federal court system as separate and apart from the state court system. It was a groundbreaking innovation in 1789 that has stood the test of time.
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The Judiciary Act of 1789 is the federal act which established the lower federal courts and other functions of the federal judiciary. Article III of the Constitution provides that “judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts” as Congress sees fit to establish. Article III establishes neither how many justices should sit on the Supreme Court, nor the structure of federal courts. The Judiciary Act of 1789 filled this gap by providing that “the supreme court of the United States shall consist of a chief justice and five associate justices.” The Act also created federal District Courts and a Circuit Court, which would hear appeals from the district courts and would become the Courts of Appeals. Under the Act, the District Courts had jurisdiction over serious federal crimes, civil cases over $500 involving diversity jurisdiction or the United States as a party, and admiralty cases. That is, the Judiciary Act of 1789 did not grant District Courts federal question jurisdiction, over which they currently have jurisdiction. The Act also created the office of the U.S. Attorney General, and for each federal district the office of United States Attorney and United States Marshal. A transcript of the Judiciary Act of 1789 may be found here. [Last updated in December of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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U.S. Const. amend. XIUnited States Supreme Court casesMarbury v. Madison The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, 1 Stat. 73) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States.[2][3][4][5][6] Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution prescribed that the "judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such inferior Courts" as Congress saw fit to establish. It made no provision for the composition or procedures of any of the courts, leaving this to Congress to decide.[7] The existence of a separate federal judiciary had been controversial during the debates over the ratification of the Constitution. Anti-Federalists had denounced the judicial power as a potential instrument of national tyranny. Indeed, of the ten amendments that eventually became the Bill of Rights, five (the fourth through the eighth) dealt primarily with judicial proceedings. Even after ratification, some opponents of a strong judiciary urged that the federal court system be limited to a Supreme Court and perhaps local admiralty judges. Congress, however, decided to establish a system of federal trial courts with broader jurisdiction, thereby creating an arm for enforcement of national laws within each state.[6] Legislative historySenator Richard Henry Lee (AA-Virginia) reported the judiciary bill out of committee on June 12, 1789;[1] Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut was its chief author.[8] The bill passed the Senate 14–6 on July 17, 1789, and the House of Representatives then debated the bill in July and August 1789. The House passed an amended bill 37–16 on September 17, 1789. The Senate struck four of the House amendments and approved the remaining provisions on September 19, 1789. The House passed the Senate's final version of the bill on September 21, 1789. U.S. President George Washington signed the Act into law on September 24, 1789.[2] Provisions of the ActThe Act set the number of Supreme Court justices at six: one Chief Justice and five Associate Justices.[9] The Supreme Court was given exclusive original jurisdiction over all civil actions between states, or between a state and the United States, as well as over all suits and proceedings brought against ambassadors and other diplomatic personnel; and original, but not exclusive, jurisdiction over all other cases in which a state was a party and any cases brought by an ambassador. The Court was given appellate jurisdiction over decisions of the federal circuit courts as well as decisions by state courts holding invalid any statute or treaty of the United States; or holding valid any state law or practice that was challenged as being inconsistent with the federal constitution, treaties, or laws; or rejecting any claim made by a party under a provision of the federal constitution, treaties, or laws.[1]
The Act also created 13 judicial districts within the 11 states that had then ratified the Constitution (North Carolina and Rhode Island were added as judicial districts in 1790, and other states as they were admitted to the Union). Each state comprised one district, except for Virginia and Massachusetts, each of which comprised two. Massachusetts was divided into the District of Maine (which was then part of Massachusetts) and the District of Massachusetts (which covered modern-day Massachusetts). Virginia was divided into the District of Kentucky (which was then part of Virginia) and the District of Virginia (which covered modern-day West Virginia and Virginia).[1] This Act established a circuit court and district court in each judicial district (except in Maine and Kentucky, where the district courts exercised much of the jurisdiction of the circuit courts).[6] The circuit courts, which comprised a district judge and (initially) two Supreme Court justices "riding circuit," had original jurisdiction over serious crimes and civil cases of at least $500 involving diversity jurisdiction or the United States as plaintiff in common law and equity. The circuit courts also had appellate jurisdiction over the district courts. The single-judge district courts had jurisdiction primarily over admiralty cases, petty crimes, and suits by the United States for at least $100. Notably, the federal trial courts had not yet received original federal question jurisdiction.[citation needed] Congress authorized all people to either represent themselves or to be represented by another person. The Act did not prohibit paying a representative to appear in court.[citation needed] Congress authorized persons who were sued by citizens of another state, in the courts of the plaintiff's home state, to remove the lawsuit to the federal circuit court. The power of removal, and the Supreme Court's power to review state court decisions where federal law was at issue, established that the federal judicial power would be superior to that of the states.[citation needed] The Act created the Office of Attorney General, whose primary responsibility was to represent the United States before the Supreme Court. The Act also created a United States Attorney and a United States Marshal for each judicial district.[5] The Judiciary Act of 1789 included the Alien Tort Statute, now codified as 28 U.S.C. § 1350, which provides jurisdiction in the district courts over lawsuits by aliens for torts in violation of the law of nations or treaties of the United States.[10] ImplementationImmediately after signing the Judiciary Act into law, President Washington submitted his nominations to fill the offices created by the Act. Among the nominees were John Jay for Chief Justice of the United States; John Rutledge, William Cushing, Robert H. Harrison, James Wilson, and John Blair Jr. as Associate Justices; Edmund Randolph for Attorney General; and myriad district judges, United States Attorneys, and United States Marshals for Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.[1][11] All six of Washington's Supreme Court nominees were confirmed by the Senate. Harrison, however, declined to serve. In his place, Washington later nominated James Iredell, who joined the Court in 1790, thereby bringing the Court to its "full strength" complement of six members.[citation needed] The first six persons to serve on the United States Supreme Court (ordered by seniority) were:
The seniority of the associate justices was set by § 1 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which assigned seniority by the dates borne on the judicial commissions each justice received from President Washington prior to taking office. This rule setting seniority of the justices is today codified at Title 28 U.S.C., § 4. Judicial reviewA clause in Section 13 of the Judiciary Act, which granted the Supreme Court the power to issue writs of mandamus under its original jurisdiction, was later declared unconstitutional. In Marbury v. Madison,[18] one of the seminal cases in American law, the Supreme Court held that was unconstitutional because it purported to enlarge the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court beyond that permitted by the Constitution. The case was the first that clearly established that the judiciary can and must interpret what the Constitution permits and declare any laws which are contrary to the Constitution as unenforceable. Thus, the Judiciary Act of 1789 was the first act of Congress to be partially invalidated by the Supreme Court.[19][20] See also
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