The Business of the Supreme Court of the United States. A Study in the Federal Judicial System. II. From the Civil War to the Circuit Courts of Appeals Act

1925 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Frankfurter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Courts Of Appeals ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Circuit Courts

The Workload of the Supreme Court: A Comment on the Freund Report

1976 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hodder-Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
District Courts ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
Chief Justice ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Circuit Courts

Belief that the Supreme Court is overburdened is not new. In the years after the Civil War, the expansion of the United States, both territorially and economically, enlarged the work of the Justices enormously, for not only did the number of cases on which they were required to pass judgement increase but the miles they had to travel within their own circuits also multiplied hugely. In 1891 the Circuit Courts of Appeal Act was passed, establishing intermediate courts between the District Courts, product of the original 1789 Judiciary Act, and the Supreme Court itself. Whereas in 1890 before the Act was passed 623 new cases were filed, in the 1892 Term only 275 were, and the Court was soon able to reduce its backlog. Nevertheless the number began once again to drift upwards so that by 1923 nearly 750 appeals and petitions for certiorari, on most of which the Justices were obliged to pronounce, reached the Supreme Court. Following intense lobbying by Howard Taft, at that time Chief Justice, a major reform took place in 1925 which allowed the Court discretionary power over virtually all its docket.

The Federal Judicial Conference

1932 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 482-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman J. Padelford
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Attorney General ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Chief Justice ◽  
The Supreme Court

The Conference held its ninth annual meeting in Washington on October 1-3, 1931. Authorized by the Judiciary Act of September 14, 1922, the conference of the senior circuit judges with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Attorney-General has become an established part of the judicial system of the United States. The reports of these conferences are to be found in the annual reports of the Attorney-General, beginning in 1924. The 1922 and 1923 reports may best be found in the Texas Law Review, Vol. II, pages 445 and 448, and in the Journal of the American Judicature Society, Vol. VIII, pages 85 and 92. In view of the general inaccessibility of the reports of the Attorney-General to the legal profession, it has been suggested that they be published in the Supreme Court Reports. The suggestion has not as yet, however, been adopted.

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