The Constitution provides that “the 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.”
Under this provision of the Constitution Congress at its first session
enacted a law providing for a Supreme Court, three circuit courts,
and a number of district courts. Six justices were appointed for the
Supreme Court, but there were no separate circuit judges, and the work
of each circuit court was left to two justices of the Supreme Court and
the judge of the district in which the session was held.
One of the saddest manifestations of the imperfections of our
politically controlled government is to be found in the record of the
federal judiciary, in turn neglected, imposed upon, and buffeted by
Congress. This is not the place to tell that story; but the interested
reader is referred to “The Business of the Supreme Court” by Felix
Frankfurter and James M. Landis.
At present the United States Supreme Court has nine members. They meet
in what was formerly the Senate Chamber in the old part of the Capitol
in Washington. The Justices are appointed by the President with the
approval of the Senate and hold office for life. They can only be
removed by impeachment.
The chief justice receives a salary of $15,000 and the others $14,500
each.
The country is divided into ten circuits, and in these circuits there
are circuit judges, varying in number according to the size of the
circuit and the amount of judicial business arising within its borders.
Formerly there were circuit courts; but they have been abolished, and
the circuit judges now sit with district judges to constitute the
United States Circuit Courts of Appeal, of which there is one for each
circuit.
The lowest federal court is the District Court. Of these there are some
eighty; but a district may be cut up into divisions with one or more
judges for each division.
The salaries of the circuit judges are $12,500 each and of the district
judges $10,000 each.
There are also two special courts concerning which a word needs to be
said. One is the Court of Claims, established in 1855, with a chief
justice and four associate judges, whose business it is to hear and
determine the merits of all claims against the federal government. The
other is the Court of Customs Appeals, with the same number of judges
as the Court of Claims. It serves as the final court of appeal in all
controversies regarding the administration of the tariff laws.
All the judges of inferior federal courts, like those of the Supreme
Court, are appointed for life or during good behavior. Their salaries
may not be diminished during their tenure of office.