It was one of the first acts of that first Congress, and for the most part, it remains intact.
The authors: The act was written by Sen. Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, who later served as the third chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Sen. William Paterson of New Jersey, who later served as associate justice of the Supreme Court.
The court system: The act envisioned a three-part judiciary. First, there was the Supreme Court, which had been established by the Constitution but took shape with the Judiciary Act. The high court would have a chief justice and five associate justices. “In each state and in Kentucky and Maine (then part of other states), a federal judge was to preside over a United States district court, which would hear admiralty and maritime cases and some other minor cases,” explains the Federal Judicial Center online. “The middle tier of the judiciary consisted of United States circuit courts, which would serve as the principal trial courts in the federal system and exercise limited appellate jurisdiction. Two Supreme Court justices and the local district judge were to preside in the circuit courts.”
The attorney general: The act also created the office of attorney general, currently held by Jeff Sessions.
It becomes law: The legislation was signed into law by President George Washington on Sept. 24, 1789.
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Men and women of the founding generation
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