Judiciary Act of 1789

Long title	An Act to establish the Judicial Courts of the United States
Nicknames	establishment of the federal judiciary
Enacted by	the1st United States Congress
Citations
Statutes at Large	1 Stat. 73
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as the Judiciary Act byRichard Henry Lee[1] on June 12, 1789[1] Passed the Senate on July 17, 1789 (14–6) Passed the House of Representatives on September 17, 1789 (37–16[1]) with amendment Senate agreed to House of Representatives amendment on September 19, 1789[1] () with further amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on September 21, 1789[1] () Signed into law by PresidentGeorge Washington on September 24, 1789
Major amendments
Judiciary Act of 1801,1802,1866,1867,1869,1891,1925 U.S. Const. amend. XI
United States Supreme Court cases
Marbury v. Madison5 U.S.137 (1803) Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo, S.A. v. Alliance Bond Fund, Inc.527 U.S.308 (1999) Trump v. CASA 606 U.S. ____ (2025)

TheJudiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, 1 Stat. 73) is aUnited States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of theFirst United States Congress. It established thefederal judiciary of the United States.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}Article III,Section 1 of theConstitution prescribed that the "judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in oneSupreme Court, and such inferior Courts" as Congress saw fit to establish. It made no provision for the composition or procedures of any of the courts, leaving this to Congress to decide.^[7]

The existence of a separate federal judiciary was controversial during the debates overthe ratification of the Constitution.Anti-Federalists had denounced the judicial power as a potential instrument of nationaltyranny. Indeed, of the ten amendments that eventually became theBill of Rights, five (thefourth through theeighth) dealt primarily with judicial proceedings. Even after ratification, some opponents of a strong judiciary urged that the federal court system be limited to only a Supreme Court and, perhaps, local admiralty judges. Congress, however, decided to establish a system offederal trial courts with broader jurisdiction, thereby creating an arm for enforcement of national laws within each state.^[6]

SenatorRichard Henry Lee (AA-Virginia) reported the judiciary bill out of committee on June 12, 1789;^[1]Oliver Ellsworth ofConnecticut, who would go on to serve as the third Chief Justice of the United States, was its chief author.^[8] The bill passed the Senate 14–6 on July 17, 1789, and theHouse of Representatives then debated the bill in July and August 1789. The House passed an amended bill 37–16 on September 17, 1789. The Senate struck four of the House amendments and approved the remaining provisions on September 19, 1789. The House passed the Senate's final version of the bill on September 21, 1789.U.S. PresidentGeorge Washington signed the Act into law on September 24, 1789.^[2]

The Act set the number ofSupreme Courtjustices at six: oneChief Justice and fiveAssociate Justices.^[9] The Supreme Court was given exclusiveoriginal jurisdiction over allcivil 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 thefederal circuit courts as well as decisions bystate 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.^[1]

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]

The Act also created 13 judicial districts within the 11 states that had then ratified the Constitution (North Carolina andRhode Island were added as judicial districts in 1790, and other states as they were admitted to the Union). Each state comprised one district, except forVirginia andMassachusetts, each of which comprised two. Massachusetts was divided into the District ofMaine (which was then part of Massachusetts) and the District of Massachusetts (which covered modern-day Massachusetts). Virginia was divided into the District ofKentucky (which was then part of Virginia) and the District of Virginia (which covered modern-dayWest Virginia and Virginia).^[1]

This Act established acircuit court anddistrict court in each judicial district (except in Maine and Kentucky, where the district courts exercised much of the jurisdiction of the circuit courts).^[6] 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 involvingdiversity jurisdiction or the United States as plaintiff incommon law andequity. The circuit courts also had appellate jurisdiction over the district courts. The single-judge district courts had jurisdiction primarily overadmiralty cases, petty crimes, and suits by the United States for at least $100. Notably, at this time, Congress did not grant originalfederal question jurisdiction to the federal courts, which is why diversity has been described as the "original" and "ancient" jurisdiction of the federal courts.^[10]

Congress authorized persons who were sued by citizens of another state, in the courts of the plaintiff's home state, toremove the lawsuit to the federal circuit court.^[10] According toEdward A. Purcell Jr., removal was the "most significant innovation" of the Act.^[10] 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."^[10]

The Act created theOffice of Attorney General, whose primary responsibility was to represent the United States before the Supreme Court. The Act also created aUnited States Attorney and aUnited States Marshal for each judicial district.^[5]

The Judiciary Act of 1789 included theAlien Tort Statute, now codified as28 U.S.C. § 1350, which providesjurisdiction in the district courts over lawsuits byaliens fortorts in violation of thelaw of nations ortreaties of the United States.^[11]

Immediately after signing the Judiciary Act into law, President Washington submitted his nominations to fill the offices created by the Act. Among the nominees wereJohn Jay forChief Justice of the United States;John Rutledge,William Cushing,Robert H. Harrison,James Wilson, andJohn Blair Jr. asAssociate Justices;Edmund Randolph forAttorney General; and myriaddistrict judges,United States Attorneys, andUnited States Marshals forConnecticut,Delaware,Georgia,Kentucky,Maryland,Maine,Massachusetts,New Hampshire,New Jersey,New York,Pennsylvania,South Carolina, andVirginia.^[1][12] All six of Washington's Supreme Court nominees were confirmed by the Senate. Harrison, however, declined to serve. In his place, Washington later nominatedJames Iredell, who joined the Court in 1790, thereby bringing the Court to its "full strength" complement of six members.^[13]

The first six persons to serve on the United States Supreme Court (ordered by seniority) were:

• 
  John Jay
  Chief Justice
  Commissioned: September 26, 1789^[14]
• 
  John Rutledge
  Associate Justice
  Commissioned: September 26, 1789^[15]
• 
  William Cushing
  Associate Justice
  Commissioned: September 27, 1789^[16]
• 
  James Wilson
  Associate Justice
  Commissioned: September. 29, 1789^[17]
• 
  John Blair
  Associate Justice
  Commissioned: September 30, 1789^[18]
• 
  James Iredell
  Associate Justice
  Commissioned: February 10, 1790^[19]

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 Title28 U.S.C. § 4.

A clause in Section 13 of the Judiciary Act, which granted the Supreme Court the power to issuewrits of mandamus under its original jurisdiction, was later declaredunconstitutional. InMarbury v. Madison,^[20] 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.^[21][22]

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EnglishWikisource has original text related to this article:

Judiciary Act of 1789

• Judiciary Act of 1789 as enacted (1 Stat. 73) in theUS Statutes at Large
• Judiciary Act of 1789: Primary Documents of American History (Library of Congress)
• Judiciary Act of 1789 onGoogle Books

• 1789 in American law
• United States federal judiciary legislation
• History of the Supreme Court of the United States
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• Richard Henry Lee

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