-
The
United
States
Judiciary
Act
of
1789
(ch.
20,
1
Stat.
73
)
was
a
landmark
statute
adopted on September
24, 1789 in the first session of the
First
United
States
Congress
establishing
the
U.S.
federal
judiciary
.
Article
III, section 1 of
the
Constitution
prescribed
that the
of the United States, shall be
vested in one supreme Court,
inferior
courts as Congress saw fit to establish. It made
no provision,
though, for the
composition or procedures of any of the courts,
leaving
this to Congress to decide.
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. The
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.
[
edit
] Details of
the Act
The
Act
set
the
number
of
Supreme
Court
justices
at
six:
one
Chief
Justice
and five
Associate Justices
. 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.
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).