In the Judiciary Act of 1789, the First Congress provided the
detailed organization of a federal judiciary that the
Constitution had sketched only in general terms. Acting on its
constitutional authority to establish inferior courts, the
Congress instituted a three-tiered judiciary. The Supreme Court
consisted of a Chief Justice and five associate justices. In
each state and in Kentucky and Maine (then part of other
states), a federal judge presided over a United States district
court, which heard admiralty and maritime cases and some other
minor cases. The middle tier of the judiciary consisted of
United States circuit courts, which served as the principal
trial courts in the federal system and exercised limited
appellate jurisdiction. Two Supreme Court justices and the local
district judge presided in the circuit courts. Under the
practice known as "circuit riding," each justice was assigned to
one of three geographical circuits and traveled to the
designated meeting places within the districts of that circ