The Supreme Court - The Judicial Branch
“The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine
on it, the more it will contract.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
“In approaching this problem, we cannot turn the clock back…” - Earl
Warren in Brown v. Board of Education
Article 3
Section
Clause
What It Says
What It Means
The judicial Power of the United States shall be
vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior
Courts as the Congress may from time to time
ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the
supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their
Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated
Times, receive for their Services a Compensation,
which shall not be diminished during their
Continuance in Office.
There shall be a Supreme Court that holds the
judicial power of the United States. There shall
also be lower courts, that Congress may set up.
The judges of the Supreme Court and the lower
court shall serve for life, as long as they behave
well.
They shall get a salary, which may not be
decreased (made lower) while they are in office.
1
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law
and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the
Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or
which shall be made, under their Authority;--to all
Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers
and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and
maritime Jurisdiction;--to Controversies to which
the United States shall be a Party;--to
Controversies between two or more States;-between a State and Citizens of another State,-between Citizens of different States,--between
Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under
Grants of different States, and between a State, or
the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens
or Subjects.
The power of the United States
courts shall extend in the following areas:
All cases in law and equity that are covered by the
Constitution, the laws of the United States, and its
treaties.
All cases that affect ambassadors, public ministers
and consuls, cases that concern ships at sea, and
ships in ports of the U.S.
It shall extend to controversies between the
United States and others.
It shall extend to controversies between two or
more states; between a state and citizens of
another state, between citizens of two different
states; between citizens of the same state
claiming lands under grants of different states
and between a state, or a citizen of a state and
foreign states, citizens, or people. (Modified by
the 11th Amendment)
2
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public
Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State
shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have
original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before
mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate
Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such
Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the
Congress shall make.
The Supreme Court shall be the correct place to
try all cases that affect ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls and those cases in which a
state is the party bringing the case to court, or is
being brought to court.
The Supreme Court shall be a court to appeal to
(after decisions made in lower courts) in law and
fact in all other cases mentioned before. Congress
may make some exceptions to this.
3
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of
Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall
be held in the State where the said Crimes shall
have been committed; but when not committed
within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or
Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Crimes shall be tried by a jury, except for cases of
impeachment of government officials.
The trials for crimes shall be in the state where
the crime was committed. If the crime was not
committed in any of the states, the trial shall be in
a place that Congress chooses.
1
2
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The Supreme Court - The Judicial Branch
Article 3
Section
Clause
1
3
2
What It Says
What It Means
Treason against the United States, shall consist
only in levying War against them, or in adhering to
their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No
Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the
Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act,
or on Confession in open Court.
Treason against the United States means engaging
in war against the United States, or fighting on the
side of the U.S.’s enemies, or giving help, support,
or assistance to the enemies of the United States.
A person cannot be convicted of treason unless
there are two witnesses that have seen or been
present at an actual action of the accused person.
Or the person confesses in court in front of a judge
and the public.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the
Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason
shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture
except during the Life of the Person attainted.
Congress shall have the power to decide the
punishment for treason. However, they may not
pass a law declaring that a person has committed
treason. They may not punish a person who is
convicted of treason by punishing his family or his
heirs. They may not take property except during
the life of the person convicted of treason.
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The Supreme Court - Judiciary Act of 1789
The founders of the new nation believed that the establishment of a national judiciary was
one of their most important tasks. Yet Article III of the Constitution of the United States, the
provision that deals with the judiciary branch of government, is markedly smaller than
Articles I and II, which created the legislative and executive branches.
The generality of Article III of the Constitution raised questions that Congress had to address
in the Judiciary Act of 1789. These questions had no easy answers, and the solutions to them
were achieved politically. The First Congress decided that it could regulate the jurisdiction of
all Federal courts, and in the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress established with great
particularity a limited jurisdiction for the district and circuit courts, gave the Supreme Court
the original jurisdiction provided for in the Constitution, and granted the Court appellate
jurisdiction in cases from the Federal circuit courts and from the state courts where those
courts rulings had rejected Federal claims. The decision to grant Federal courts a jurisdiction
more restrictive than that allowed by the Constitution represented a recognition by the
Congress that the people of the United States would not find a full-blown Federal court
system palatable at that time.
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). 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).
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). 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 singlejudge 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.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=12 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judiciary_Act_of_1789
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The Supreme Court - Judiciary Act of 1891
The Judiciary Act of 1891 (26 Stat. 826), also known as the Evarts Act after its primary
sponsor, Senator William M. Evarts, created the United States courts of appeals, and
reassigned the jurisdiction of most routine appeals from the district and circuit courts to
these appellate courts. Because of this, it is also called the Circuit Courts of Appeals Act.
The Act created nine new courts, originally known as the "United States circuit courts of
appeals" (the name was changed to its current form in 1948). Each court was composed of two
circuit judges and one district judge. The new courts had jurisdiction over most appeals of
lower court decisions.
The Supreme Court could review legal issues that a court of appeals certified to it, and could
also review court of appeals decisions by writ of certiorari. This change resulted in an
immediate reduction in the Supreme Court's workload (from 623 cases filed in 1890 to 379 in
1891 and 275 in 1892). However, Congress provided that some types of cases could be
appealed directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing the new courts of appeals.
The Act also eliminated the requirement of "circuit riding" by Supreme Court justices, under
which the justices sat as trial judges on the U.S. circuit courts. The circuit courts themselves
remained in existence, although without their former appellate jurisdiction, until they were
abolished and their trial jurisdiction transferred to the district courts by the Judicial Code of
1911.
The Act allowed certain types of cases to be appealed directly to the Supreme Court
(bypassing the new circuit courts of appeals) — such as convictions for capital crimes; cases
involving the construction or application of the United States Constitution; or cases in which a
federal law or treaty, or a state constitution or law, was alleged to violate the U.S.
Constitution.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=12 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judiciary_Act_of_1891
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