discretion as to whether to adopt a lower court system. It states 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.” Fearing that the state courts might be hostile to congressional legislation, Congress 
immediately created a lower federal court system in 1789. 
1 The lower federal court system has been 
expanded over the years, such as when Congress created the separate appellate courts in 1891. 
View the authorized federal judgeships at http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/allauth.pdf 
Trace the history of the federal courts at https://www.fjc.gov/history/timeline/8276 
Trace the history of the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts here https://www.fjc.gov/history/
timeline/8271 
View cases that shaped the roles of the federal courts at https://www.fjc.gov/history/timeline/8271 
Trace the administration of the federal courts at https://www.fjc.gov/history/timeline/8286 
United States Supreme Court             
The United States Supreme Court (Court), located in Washington, D.C., is the highest appellate court 
in the federal judicial system. Nine justices sitting en banc,
en banc,  as one panel, together with their clerks and 
administrative staff, make up the Supreme Court. [View the biographies of the current U.S. Supreme 
Court Justices here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx]. The Court’s decisions have the 
broadest impact because they govern both the state and federal judicial system. Additionally, this Court 
influences federal criminal law because it supervises the activities of the lower federal courts. The nine 
justices have the final word in determining what the U.S. Constitution permits and prohibits, and it is most 
1. (The Judiciary Act of 1789 (Ch. 20, 1 Stat 73) 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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