The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the structure and basic powers of the federal court system in the United States.

Core things it established

  • A three‑level federal judiciary: Supreme Court, circuit courts, and district courts.
  • The Supreme Court with 6 justices (1 Chief Justice and 5 Associate Justices).
  • Federal district courts in each state to handle admiralty/maritime and other federal cases.
  • Federal circuit courts as the main trial courts, with some appellate jurisdiction.
  • The office of the Attorney General to represent the United States before the Supreme Court.
  • U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals for each federal judicial district.

In short, the Act turned the Constitution’s brief outline of a ā€œSupreme Court and inferior courtsā€ into a working federal court system whose basic framework still exists today.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.