What legislation created 16 new federal judges?

Answer 1

Answer

The Judiciary Act of 1801


Explanation

The Federalist Party had controlled the government since it was established in the late 1780s, but a number of their policies were elitist and became increasingly unpopular. In the 1800 Presidential election, incumbent Federalist John Adams lost his seat to Thomas Jefferson, a member the new Democratic-Republican party, which billed themselves as "anti-Federalists." Jefferson's fellow party member Aaron Burr became Vice-President; and the Federalist Congress lost control of both houses to the Democratic-Republicans.

In a desperate attempt to retain control of the judiciary, whose members were appointed rather than elected, Congress passed The Judiciary Act of 1801 in its lame duck session. Among other things, the Act reorganized the circuit courts, adding special appellate judges to oversee lower courts, and relieving the US Supreme Court justices of their circuit-riding responsibilities. Adams exclusively nominated Federalists to fill the newly created judgeships, a decision that resulted in criticism for court-packing.

The Act also reduced the number of Supreme Court Justices by one (by attrition), ostensibly due to the diminished workload. Apparently, the real motive was to prevent Thomas Jefferson from changing the composition of the Court.

One of the first acts of the new Congress was repealing the Judiciary Act of 1801, costing the new judges their jobs, and restoring the number of Supreme Court justices to six. The judicial branch temporarily resumed operation under the old rules of the Judiciary Act of 1789. The substitute legislation, the Judiciary Act of 1802, retained the justices circuit-riding responsibilities, restored the number of justices to six, and suspended the Term of the Supreme Court from December 1801 until February 1803.