Existing comment:
Colonial charters each applied to one colony or state. The Constitution took the principles of law and individual rights to the national level.
The independent federal judiciary, contained in the United States Constitution, exists to guarantee that the government exercises its authority without abusing the rights of individuals.
The mission of the United States Supreme Courts, to interpret the Constitution and to assure Americans of their right to justice, remains unchanged since the ratification of the Constitution. However, the execution of the mission changed over time.
Article III of the Constitution provided for a Supreme Court, but leaves the details of the federal judiciary for Congress to decree. The Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 created a new federal court system. The Judiciary Act divided the nation into thirteen federal judicial districts. For administrative purposes the new law groups the districts into three circuits, the Eastern, Middle, and Southern. The Judiciary Act required that circuit courts be held in each district at least twice a year with no provision made for federal circuit judges. Instead, one district judge and two Supreme Court judges presided over each circuit court. Supreme Court justices presided over two sessions of the Supreme Court and 26 sessions of the circuit courts every year. While the Supreme Court sessions usually lasted only a couple of weeks, circuit riding could take months at a time.
President George Washington appointed six justices to the first Court in 1789. They faced the formidable task of establishing the judicial branch of the new government while also riding the circuits. Very early in the history of the Supreme Court, the requirements to ride the circuit produced dissatisfaction among the justices. The southern circuit alone ran over 1,300 miles, a distance travelled through wilderness along muddy or nonexistent roads. A justice that rode the southern circuit then traveled in haste back to Philadelphia for the twice yearly terms of the Supreme Court. Justices spent months of the year away from home and separated from their families. To add insult to injury, the Justices paid their travel expenses and lodging out of their own pockets! |