Judiciary Act of 1789

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Judiciary Act of 1789, act establishing the organization of the U.S. federal court system, which had been sketched only in general terms in the U.S. Constitution. The act established a three-part judiciary—made up of district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court—and outlined the structure and jurisdiction of each branch.

The Judiciary Act of 1789, officially titled “An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States,” was principally authored by Senators Oliver Ellsworth and William Paterson and signed into law by Pres. George Washington on September 24, 1789. The act’s creators, by essentially all accounts, viewed it as a work in progress. Although indeed amended throughout the years, the basic outline it provided has remained largely intact.

The act divided the country into districts with one court and one judge in each, along with attorneys responsible for civil and criminal actions in their districts. The act also created the office of attorney general of the United States; the attorney general, a member of the cabinet, is appointed by the president and is head of the Department of Justice.

Circuit courts—which make up the middle tier of the federal court system—were created to serve as principal trial courts. They also exercise limited appellate jurisdiction. A local district judge and two Supreme Court justices preside over the circuit courts.

The act established that the Supreme Court would be composed of one chief justice and five associate justices and that all decisions of the Supreme Court would be final. The act also vested in the Supreme Court the power to settle disputes between states and provided for mandatory Supreme Court review of the final judgments of the highest court of any state in cases “where is drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute of the United States and the decision is against its validity” or “where is drawn in question the validity of a statute of any state on the ground of its being repugnant to the Constitution, treaties or laws of the United States, and the decision is in favor of its validity.” In Cohens v. Virginia (1821) the Supreme Court reaffirmed its right under the Judiciary Act to review all state court judgments in cases arising under the federal Constitution or a law of the United States.

This article was most recently revised and updated by André Munro.