Judiciary Act of 1789
Judiciary Act of 1789
Article III of the Constitution of the United States established the Supreme Court but left open to Congress the ability to create lower courts. During the first session of Congress in April 1789, just one day after the Senate had achieved a quorum, the first Senate went about addressing this and appointed a committee to draft S. 1, the first piece of legislation ever proposed in the upper house of Congress.
What became known as the Judiciary Act of 1789 established the multi-tiered federal court system we know today. In addition, it set the number of Supreme Court Justices at six and created the office of the Attorney General to argue on behalf of the United States in cases before the Supreme Court.
On September 24, 1789 the Judiciary Act was signed into law by President George Washington. That same day, he appointed the first Supreme Court Chief and Associate Justices and lower court judges.
Though there have been many adjustments and revisions to this initial law, the justice system we have in America today still follows the basic structure set up by this, the first bill ever introduced into the United States Senate.
Past Featured Records
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70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Thursday, February 1, 2024 – Wednesday, February 28, 2024
East Rotunda GalleryEquity in Education: 70 Years Later
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional in... Read more
250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Wednesday, January 31, 2024East Rotunda GalleryThe Destruction of the Tea
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Tuesday, June 20, 2023 – Wednesday, October 18, 2023
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Celebrating Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong
National Archives, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service“I want to be an actress, not a freak.”
Film legend Anna May Wong’s talent could not be contained by the racist casting of early Hollywood movies. Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905,... Read more
The Maker of Pilots: Willa B. Brown
Willa B. Brown, February 13, 1943
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