Judiciary Act of 1789

Provisions 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.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the supreme court of the United States shall consist of a chief justice and five associate justices, any four of whom shall be a quorum, and shall hold annually at the seat of government two sessions, the one commencing the first Monday of February, and the other the first Monday of August. [bold added]

— Judiciary Act of 1789

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 single-judge district courts had jurisdiction primarily over admiralty cases, petty crimes, and suits by the United States for at least $100. Notably, at this time, Congress did not grant original federal question jurisdiction to the federal courts, which is why diversity has been described as the "original" and "ancient" jurisdiction of the federal courts.

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. According to Edward A. Purcell Jr., removal was the "most significant innovation" of the Act. The Constitution says nothing about removal jurisdiction, which "was a powerful device to assert the primacy of the national judicial power over that of the states."

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.

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.

Implementation

Immediately 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. 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.

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 review

A 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, one of the seminal cases in American law, the Supreme Court held that it 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.