Specific Provisions of the Judiciary Act of 1801

• Changed the twice-annual sessions of the Court from February and August to June and December (when the Judiciary Act of 1801 was repealed, the Supreme Court returned to its February/August schedule under the Judiciary Act of 1789; however, the change resulted in the Court being adjourned for fourteen months, from December 1801 until February 1803).
• Authorized the federal courts to issue Extraordinary Writs, such as writs of prohibition, mandamus, scire facias, habeas corpus, certiorari, procedendo, and others not specified within the text of the Act.
• Authorized all levels of the federal court system to issue writs of habeas corpus to bring prisoners before the Court, with the express exception of those incarcerated by the states unless they were required to testify as witnesses in federal court.
• Redrew District Court territories and added five new Districts.
• Increased the number of Circuits from three to six, and authorized appointment of sixteen new Circuit judges to relieve Supreme Court justices of their circuit-riding responsibilities.
• Authorized each court to hire a Clerk of Court and a Marshall.
• Reduced the number of Supreme Court justices from six to five (by attrition), ostensibly due to the lighter workload accompanying the relief of circuit duties (the actual number of justices on the Court never declined from six because no one resigned, retired, was impeached or died before Congress repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801. The subsequent Judiciary Act reinstated the sixth seat.).
• Specified navigable waters as part of the District Courts' jurisdiction.
• Changed the jurisdiction of Circuit Courts to include "all cases under the Constitution and acts of the US," some of which had previously been under the jurisdiction of state courts as a compromise with Anti-Federalists in the Judiciary Act of 1789.
• Gave Circuit Courts exclusive jurisdiction over cases tried under the new Bankruptcy Act of 1801.
• Gave federal courts diversity jurisdiction to hear disputes between citizens of different states, under certain conditions (amounts over $500, etc.).
• Authorized judges to order inmates moved from one prison to another if the move was for safety considerations.
• Specified trial by jury, except in cases of equity and maritime law.
• Made minor changes to various court rules.

The Judiciary Act of 1789, passed on September 24 of that year, established the US Supreme Court and a small federal court system consisting of thirteen District Courts and three Circuit Courts.

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District Courts heard small civil suits and minor crimes, within three Federal Circuits. The Circuit Courts had original jurisdiction over serious federal criminal cases, and appellate jurisdiction over cases heard in the District Courts.

The six US Supreme Court justices were responsible for "riding circuit" twice a year, traveling in pairs, and hearing cases as appellate judges. Congress believed this would help the Supreme Court justices stay in touch with local concerns.

Section 1 of the Act declared "the supreme court of the United States shall consist of a chief justice and five associate justices, any four of whom shall be a quorum, and shall hold annually at the seat of government two sessions, the one commencing the first Monday of February, and the other the first Monday of August. That the associate justices shall have precedence according to the date of their commissions, or when the commissions of two or more of them bear date on the same day, according to their respective ages."

Section 13 of the Judiciary Act was a topic of controversy in Marbury v. Madison, (1803), when Chief Justice Marshall decided that portion of the legislation was unconstitutional because Congress had overstepped its authority by authorizing the Court to issue writs of mandamus to US government officials, which Marshall interpreted as being in contradiction with the Constitution.

To read the full text of the Judiciary Act of 1789, see Related Links, below.