The Supreme Court of. the United States, provided for in article III, section 1, of the Constitution, was established by the Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789. The Court's jurisdiction extends to all cases in law or equity arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made under their authority; all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; all cases of admiralty and maritime law; and controversies in which the United States is a party, between two or more States, between a State and citizens of another State, between citizens of different States, between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State or its citizens and foreign states, citizens, or subjects. In all cases involving ambassadors, ministers, and consuls, and those in which a State is a party, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. Its appellate jurisdiction is defined in various statutes.

The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and the number of Associate Justices determined by Congress. This number has ranged from five to nine, but since 1869 has been fixed by law at eight. Officers appointed by the Court to assist in the performance of its functions are the Clerk, the Deputy Clerk, the Reporter

of Decisions, the Marshal, and the Librarian.

Until 1869, except for a brief interval in 1801-2, members of the Supreme Court served also as members of the Federal circuit courts of which the Federal district judges also were members. In 1869 Congress provided for the appointment of a circuit judge within each circuit, but still required some service on circuit courts by members of the Supreme Court. By an act of March 3, 1891, which established the present Circuit Courts of Appeals, Congress provided that Supreme Court members may sit on these appellate courts within their circuits.

By statute the Supreme Court has power to prescribe rules of procedure for lower U.S. courts. Accordingly, the Court has promulgated rules governing proceedings in bankruptcy, admiralty, and copyright cases; appellate proceedings in criminal cases; and criminal petty offense proceedings before U.S. commissioners.

See United States Reports; and Charles Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History (Boston, 1935).

There are 3,742 cubic feet of records dated between 1772 and 1969 in this record group.

THE "REVOLUTIONARY WAR
PRIZE CASES": RECORDS OF THE
COURT OF APPEALS IN CASES
OF CAPTURE. 1772-89. 6 lin. ft.

Records of prize cases heard on appeal from Colonial and State courts by committees of the Continental Congress, 1776-80, and by the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture, 1780-87. The cases arose from libeling as prizes British commercial ships captured by armed vessels of individual Colonies and ships outfitted by the Continental Congress to intercept vessels bringing provisions to the besieged British garrison at Boston. Included are minutes, correspondence, and other records of the Court, 177789; case files containing petitions to Congress, copies of proceedings in lower courts, and depositions and briefs, 177686; and records of cases referred to but not tried by the Court, 1772-84.

MINUTES, DOCKETS, AND OTHER
GENERAL RECORDS OF THE
SUPREME COURT. 1790-1934.
144 lin. ft.

These include the Supreme Court's engrossed minutes, 1790-1934; rough minutes (minutes recorded daily), 17901894 and 1929-33; journals, 1890-1934, consisting chiefly of a printed record of the minutes; engrossed dockets, 17911934; rough dockets, 1810-1904;

engrossed opinions, 1835-1915; a volume of manuscript opinions delivered by Chief Justice John Marshall and several Justices at the Court's 1832 term; notes taken by Marshall during oral arguments on several cases and by Justice John McLean on one case, 1831-34; and notes and briefs of Justice Henry Baldwin, 1830-44.

TRANSCRIPTS OF ORAL
ARGUMENTS. 1968-69. 2 lin. ft.

These consist of verbatim typed transcripts of oral arguments before the

Supreme Court during the October term, 1968.

APPELLATE JURISDICTION
RECORDS. 1792-1944. 4,769 lin. ft.

These consist chiefly of case files, 1792-1934, containing writs of error or certiorari and petitions, exhibits, transcripts from lower courts, and correspondence and other records on the handling of cases in the Supreme Court; an alphabetical card index to appellate case files, 1792-1909; manuscript and revised printed opinions, 1808-1913; and case exhibits, 1917-44.

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
RECORDS. 1792-1934. 175 lin. ft.

Included are case files, 1792-1934, containing bills of complaint and other records in cases between States, between the United States and a State, cases involving diplomatic officials, and suits for writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, and prohibition; manuscript and revised printed opinions, 1815-1909; and records of habeas corpus cases heard in chambers, 1861, 1869, 1881, and 1882.

GENERAL RECORDS OF THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 1791-1941. 32 lin. ft.

These consist chiefly of the Clerk's general correspondence, 1791-1941; letters to and from Supreme Court Justices, 1791-1935; a subject file, 18001910, including records relating to officers, quarters, and records of the Court, organization of the Federal judiciary, and personal dockets of Chief Justice Marshall for the 1815 and 1820 terms of the Court; oaths of office of Justices, 1823-1910; oaths and bonds of Court officers, 1827-1907; orders concerning Court rules, 1792-1910; allotment of circuits to Justices, 1796-1910; and scrapbooks containing newspaper and other contemporary accounts of the Court and its members and officers, 1880-1935.

RECORDS OF ADMISSIONS TO
THE BAR OF THE SUPREME
COURT. 1790-1955. 72 lin. ft.

These consist chiefly of signatures of attorneys admitted to practice before the Court, 1790-1934, and a card index to names of such attorneys, 1790-1955.

FISCAL RECORDS OF THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 1818-1957. 20 lin. ft.

Included are fee books, fee bonds, bills, receipts for disbursements, and other records relating to the Clerk's accounts.

RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF
THE MARSHAL. 1864-1913.
40 lin. ft.

Until 1867 the marshal of the district in which the Supreme Court sat acted as Marshal of the Supreme Court, for which he received fees and compensation for expenses incurred in executing Supreme Court orders. In 1867 the Supreme Court was given the power to appoint its own Marshal with an annual salary. The records include a subject file, 1864-1913, relating to the Supreme Court Building and containing photographs of Court members; applications and endorsements for positions as Court officers or registers in bankruptcy, 1867-1909; and records relating to the Marshal's accounts, 1867-1911.

AUDIOVISUAL RECORDS. 1955-67. 747 items.

These consist of tape recordings of oral arguments before the Supreme Court during the 1955-67 terms.

See James R. Browning and Bess Glenn, "The Supreme Court Collection at the National Archives," American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 4 (July 1960); Marion M. Johnson, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, PI 139 (1962); and Marion M. Johnson, Elaine C. Everly, and Toussaint L. Prince, comps., Index to the Manuscript and Revised Printed Opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the National Archives, 1808-73, SL 21 (1965).

Microfilm Publications: Records of the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture (Revolutionary War Prize Cases), 1776-1787, M162, 15 rolls, DP; Minutes of the Supreme Court, 1790-1950, M215, 41 rolls, DP; Attorney Rolls of the Supreme Court, 1790-1951, M217, 4 rolls, DP; Dockets of the Supreme Court, 1791-1950, M216, 27 rolls, DP; Index to Appellate Case Files of the Supreme Court, 1792-1909, M408, 20 rolls, DP; and Appellate Case Files of the Supreme Court, 1792-1831, M214, 96 rolls, DP.

SPECIFIC RESTRICTIONS

Records: Transcripts of oral arguments, 1968-69.

Restrictions: Duplicating or copying these transcripts by photographic, electrostatic, or other facsimile means is prohibited.

Specified by: Supreme Court of the United States.

The courts of appeals are intermediate courts created by an act of March 3, 1891, to relieve the Supreme Court of considering appeals in cases originally decided by Federal trial courts. They are empowered to review final and certain interlocutory decisions of district courts except where the law provides for direct review by the Supreme Court. The

courts of appeals also review and enforce orders of Federal administrative bodies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Labor Relations Board. Decisions of the courts are final except when subject to discretionary review or appeal to the Supreme Court. The United States is divided into 11 judicial circuits, with the

District of Columbia constituting a separate circuit. There is one U.S. court of appeals with a Supreme Court Justice assigned to it in each circuit. The judges of U.S. courts of appeals constitute the judicial council of each circuit and meet at least twice a year to consider Federal judicial business in the circuit and to give necessary orders for its effective administration. The chief circuit judge calls an annual conference of all circuit and district judges in his circuit, sometimes including members of the bar, to discuss Federal business.

There are 4,142 cubic feet of records (in Federal records centers) dated between 1891 and 1945 in this record group.

RECORDS OF THE U.S. COURT OF
APPEALS, SECOND CIRCUIT,
NEW YORK, N.Y. 1891-1944.
1,305 lin. ft. (in FRC New York).

These are appellate court case files consisting of copies of records submitted

to the court of original jurisdiction, including briefs, petitions, affidavits, notices of appeals, motions, and orders.

RECORDS OF THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, FIFTH CIRCUIT, NEW ORLEANS, LA. 1891-1941.

2,669 lin. ft. (in FRC Fort Worth).

These are appellate court case files consisting of copies of records similar to those noted above.

RECORDS OF THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT, ST. LOUIS, MO. 1891-1945. 168 lin. ft. (in FRC Kansas City).

These are copies of records, including decrees, motions, memorandums, notices, and orders accumulated by the court of original jurisdiction, 1891-1941; appellate court case files consisting of documents as noted above, 1891-1945; and copies of proceedings in receivership cases, 1893-1942.

U.S. district and circuit courts were created by the Judiciary Act of 1789 under the authority of the constitutional provision that the judicial power of the United States be vested in a Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as the Congress may establish. The Judiciary Act provided that these courts were to have original jurisdiction in cases involving crimes, remedies of common law, and aliens suing for a tort. The district courts were to have exclusive original cognizance of civil cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, of seizures and all suits for penalties and forfeitures incurred, and of all suits against consuls or vice consuls. The circuit courts were to have jurisdiction over actions involving aliens or citizens of different States

and, concurrent with the courts of the several States, equity suits where the matter in dispute exceeded $500. Provision was also made for appeals from the district to the circuit court.

Subsequent legislation and other factors caused the amount and type of work performed by the circuit and district courts to vary. The national bankruptcy acts, the first of which was passed in 1800, added a heavy burden to the district courts. In 1891 the appellate jurisdiction of the circuit courts was transferred to the newly created circuit courts of appeals, and the Judiciary Act of 1911 abolished the circuit courts and provided for the transfer of their records and remaining jurisdiction to the

district courts.