supreme court history

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In 1789, the final draft of the constitution of the United States came into effect. In article three it calls for "[t]he judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." In the article it neither says the duties, powers, or any organization of the supreme court. If left this up to congress and to the justices of the court itself for these details.
The very first bill introduced in the United States Senate was the Judiciary Act of 1789, led by Connecticut's Oliver Ellsworth. It divided the country in 13 judicial districts. They were further organized into the Eastern, Middle, and Southern circuits. The 1789 Act called for the Supreme Court to consist of a Chief Justice and only five Associate Justices, and for the Court to meet in the Nation's Capital.
President Washington nominated John jay as the first Supreme Court chief justice.
The Supreme Court was first called to assemble on Feb. 1, 1790, in the Merchants exchange Building in New York City, then the Nation's Capital. Justice Jay happened to be a day late to the first day of court due to transportation problems. I suppose his horse threw a shoe? The Supreme Court spent its first session organizing itself and determining its own powers and duties. The new Justices heard and decided their first actual case in 1792.
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