United States circuit court

Not to be confused with the current United States courts of appeals.

The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate jurisdiction over the United States district courts. The Judiciary Act of 1891 (26 Stat. 826, also known as the Evarts Act) transferred their appellate jurisdiction to the newly created United States circuit courts of appeals, which are now known as the United States courts of appeals. In 1911, the circuit courts were abolished, with their remaining trial court jurisdiction transferred to the U.S. district courts.

During the 100 years that the Justices of the Supreme Court "rode circuit", many justices complained about the effort required.^[1]. Riding circuit took a great deal of time (about 1/2 of the year) and was both physically demanding and dangerous. However, "members of Congress held firm to the belief that circuit riding benefited the justices and the populace, and they turned a deaf ear to the corps of justices that desired to abolish the practice"^[2].

The Judiciary Act of 1869 established a separate circuit court (and allowed the hiring of judges specifically to handle the cases) but the act required that Supreme Court judges had to ride circuit once every two years. However, this came to a final end in 1891 when the Circuit Court of Appeals Act was passed^[3].

The net result of riding circuit was that, in many cases which ended up before the Supreme Court, a member of the Supreme Court had already heard the case and issued a ruling. In a real sense, the Supreme Court was, in such cases, acting as an en banc panel; i.e. hearing a case upon which one of their members had already passed judgment.

Organization

Although the federal judicial districts were grouped into circuits, the circuit courts convened separately in each district and were designated by the name of the district (for example, the "U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts"), not by the name or number of the circuit. The designation of circuits served only for the purpose of designating the districts in which a particular Supreme Court justice, and later a circuit judge, would sit on the circuit court. The circuit court districts were usually, but not always, the same as the districts established for the district courts.

Each circuit court was composed initially of two Supreme Court justices and the district judge of the district, although in 1793 Congress provided that a quorum of one justice and one district judge could hold a court. After 1802, only one justice was assigned to each circuit, and a quorum could consist of a single justice or judge. This "circuit riding" arrangement meant that the Supreme Court justices spent the majority of the year traveling to each district within their circuit to conduct trials, and spent far less time assembled at the capital to hear appeals. The burden of circuit riding was somewhat alleviated by the appointment of circuit judges under the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, but not abolished until the creation of the intermediate courts of appeals in 1891.

In 1801, Congress created the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, a "circuit court" for the District of Columbia. This court had the same original jurisdiction and powers as the United States circuit courts but, unlike those courts, it continued to have its own judges even after the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801, and had appellate jurisdiction over justices of the peace and other "local" courts of the District. The District of Columbia was not enumerated among the federal "circuits" at the time. This court was abolished in 1863.

Judges

Although any district court judge could be authorized to act as a circuit judge, only fifty judges solely designated as circuit court judges were ever appointed. These can be broadly categorized into four groups:

1. Judges appointed pursuant to the Midnight Judges Act on or after February 20, 1801, and thereafter removed from office with the repeal of that Act on July 1, 1802.
2. Judges appointed to the D.C. Circuit, abolished on March 3, 1863
3. Judges appointed after 1869 pursuant to the Circuit Judges Act of 1869; those in office on June 16, 1891 were transferred to the newly created United States courts of appeals by operation of law, that is, without action on the part of the President.
4. One judge appointed to the California circuit, established in 1855 and abolished on March 3, 1863.

Three circuit court judges, Samuel M. Blatchford, David Josiah Brewer, and William Burnham Woods, were later appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

Circuit court judges appointed pursuant to the Midnight Judges Act:

Judge	Circuit	Began service	Ended service	Appointed by
Richard Bassett	Third	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
Egbert Benson	Second	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
Benjamin Bourne	First	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
Joseph Clay, Jr.	Fifth	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
William Griffith	Third	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
Dominic Augustin Hall	Fifth	January 26, 1802	July 1, 1802	Thomas Jefferson
Edward Harris	Fifth	May 3, 1802	July 1, 1802	Thomas Jefferson
Samuel Hitchcock	Second	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
Henry Potter	Fifth	January 26, 1802	April 7, 1802	Thomas Jefferson
Philip Barton Key	Fourth	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
John A. Lowell	First	February 20, 1801	May 6, 1802	John Adams
Charles Magill	Fourth	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
Jeremiah Smith	First	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
George Keith Taylor	Fourth	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
William McClung	Sixth	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
William Tilghman	Third	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams
Oliver Wolcott, Jr.	Second	February 20, 1801	July 1, 1802	John Adams

Judges of the D.C. Circuit:

Judge	Circuit	Began service	Ended service	Appointed by
Allen Bowie Duckett	D.C.	March 17, 1806	July 19, 1809	Thomas Jefferson
James Dunlop	D.C.	February 3, 1846 November 27, 1855	November 27, 1855 March 3, 1863	James K. Polk Franklin Pierce (as chief judge)[4]
William Cranch	D.C.	February 28, 1801 February 24, 1806	February 24, 1806 September 1, 1855	John Adams Thomas Jefferson (as chief judge)[4]
Nicholas Battalle Fitzhugh	D.C.	November 25, 1803	December 31, 1814	Thomas Jefferson
James Markham Marshall	D.C.	March 3, 1801	November 16, 1803	John Adams
William Kilty	D.C.	January 26, 1802	January 27, 1806	Thomas Jefferson (as chief judge)
William Matthew Merrick	D.C.	December 14, 1855	March 3, 1863	Franklin Pierce
James Sewall Morsell	D.C.	January 11, 1815	March 3, 1863	James Madison
Buckner Thruston	D.C.	December 14, 1809	August 30, 1845	James Madison

Circuit court judges appointed pursuant to the 1869 Act:

Judge	Circuit	Began service	Ended service	Appointed by
Marcus Wilson Acheson	Third	February 3, 1891	June 16, 1891[5]	Benjamin Harrison
John Baxter	Sixth	December 13, 1877	April 2, 1886	Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel M. Blatchford	Second	March 4, 1878	March 22, 1882	Rutherford B. Hayes
Hugh Lennox Bond	Fourth	July 13, 1870	June 16, 1891[5]	Ulysses Grant
David Josiah Brewer	Eighth	March 31, 1884	January 6, 1890	Chester A. Arthur
Henry Clay Caldwell	Eighth	March 4, 1890	June 16, 1891[5]	Benjamin Harrison
LeBaron Bradford Colt	First	July 5, 1884	June 16, 1891[5]	Chester A. Arthur
John Forrest Dillon	Eighth	December 22, 1869	September 1, 1879	Ulysses Grant
Thomas Drummond	Seventh	December 22, 1869	July 18, 1884	Ulysses Grant
Halmer Hull Emmons	Sixth	January 17, 1870	May 14, 1877	Ulysses Grant
Walter Quintin Gresham	Seventh	December 9, 1884	June 16, 1891[5]	Chester A. Arthur
Howell Edmunds Jackson	Sixth	April 12, 1886	June 16, 1891[5]	Grover Cleveland
Alexander Smith Johnson	Second	December 15, 1875	January 26, 1878	Ulysses Grant
Emile Henry Lacombe	Second	February 28, 1888	June 16, 1891[5]	Grover Cleveland
John Lowell	First	December 18, 1878	May 1, 1884	Rutherford B. Hayes
George Washington McCrary	Eighth	December 9, 1879	March 18, 1884	Rutherford B. Hayes
William McKennan	Third	December 22, 1869	January 3, 1891	Ulysses Grant
Don Albert Pardee	Fifth	May 13, 1881	June 16, 1891[5]	James A. Garfield
Lorenzo Sawyer	Ninth	January 10, 1870	June 16, 1891[5]	Ulysses Grant
George Foster Shepley	First	December 22, 1869	July 20, 1878	Ulysses Grant
William James Wallace	Second	April 6, 1882	June 16, 1891[5]	Chester A. Arthur
Lewis Bartholomew Woodruff	Second	December 22, 1869	September 10, 1875	Ulysses Grant
William Burnham Woods	Fifth	December 22, 1869	December 23, 1880	Ulysses Grant

Circuit court judge of California:

Judge	Circuit	Began service	Ended service	Appointed by
Matthew Hall McAllister	California	March 3, 1855	January 12, 1863	Franklin Pierce

References

1. ^ Joshua Glick, Comment: On the Road: The Supreme Court and the History of Circuit Riding", Cardozo Law Review, April 2003, http://www.supremecourthistory.org/docs/schs_publications-circuitriding.pdf
2. ^ Glick, On the Road, pg. 1
3. ^ Glick, On the Road, pg. 2
4. ^ ^{a b} Because of the unique structure of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, the elevation of a sitting judge of the Court to chief judge of the Court is considered a separate appointment.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Transferred to the corresponding Court of Appeals by operation of law.

See also

• List of Presidents of the United States by judicial appointments

External links

• Federal Judicial Center