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United States Congress
One of the major themes of the constitutional history of Great Britain during the medieval period was
the work of the central government in establishing a chain of appellate courts that nullified the interposition
of independent feudal and ecclesiastical courts and reached down to the local level throughout the realm.
Only when an unbroken series of courts of law united the crown and its subjects was it possible for the
crown to begin building the system of "national" laws known as English Common Law and to lay
the foundations of a national government.
With such a history at their disposal, it is curious that the framers of the Constitution paid so little
attention to the establishment of a judiciary system. The Constitution provided only for a Supreme Court
and "such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time establish." The phrase suggests
that, while it was expected that federal appellate courts would be established as the new nation grew,
the size (and cost) of the federal judicial system properly fell within the purview of the legislative
branch. Nevertheless, the Constitution gave legislators no guidance as to the power and purpose of the
judicial system as a whole.
This made the Judiciary Act of 1789 one of the fundamental steps toward a national government. Not only
did Congress establish a complete appellate system, consisting of district courts, circuit courts, and
the Supreme Court, but it also gave those courts wide power. Most particularly, it provided that all cases
in which the federal government was a party were to be tried in federal courts, thus eliminating the possibility
that the states would be able to judge the actions of the federal government within their own borders.
It must be remembered that the first Congress of the United States was controlled by men who wished to
see a strong central government in the land. It may well be that the Judiciary Act was their single greatest
contribution toward that end. Congress addressed many staffing and jurisdictional issues in this act.
Who did Congress decide was to constitute the personnel of the circuit courts? In what types of actions
was the Supreme Court to have final authority? Original authority? See how this act became an issue in
the case of Marbury v. Madison. According to this act, what functions were assigned to the
attorney general?
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