There is a class of causes which may be commenced in this court. In these cases it has original jurisdiction. They are such as affect ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; and those in which a State shall be a party. In other cases it has only appellate jurisdiction. The greater part of its business is to hear and determine appeals from inferior courts, mainly from the United States Circuit Courts; and in some instances from the highest State courts.
4. It has not only original, but exclusive jurisdiction in causes where a State is a party, and when proceedings or suits against ambassadors, or other public ministers or their servants, are instituted. Its power to try appeals from lower courts, called appellate jurisdiction, gives it the position of the highest court in the nation.
It has power also to restrain or to prohibit proceedings in the United States District Courts, when acting as courts of Admiralty; or in cases of maritime jurisdiction. The judges of this court hold the Circuit Courts, and allot themselves among the judicial circuits.
The practice and rules of procedure in this court are very similar to those of the Courts of Chancery and King’s Bench, in England. Issues of fact are tried by jury, the same as in other courts.
OFFICERS OF THE COURT.
5. The officers of this tribunal are the Judges, the Attorney General, a clerk, a crier, and a reporter. The three last named are appointed by the court. It is the duty of the Marshal of the District of Columbia to attend this court, and to serve process issuing from it.
An Attorney or Counsellor-at-Law, to be admitted to practice in this court, must have been a practitioner in the Supreme Court of the State where he lives.
6. The following are the names of all the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, from its establishment to the present time; with the dates of their appointments, and the States from which they were appointed:
- John Jay, N. Y., Sept. 26, 1789.
- John Rutledge, S. C., July 1, 1795.
- William Cushing, Mass., Jan. 27, 1796.
- Oliver Ellsworth, Ct., March 4, 1796.
- John Jay, N. Y., Dec. 19, 1800.
- John Marshall, Va., Jan. 27, 1801.
- Roger B. Taney, Md., Dec. 28, 1835.
- Salmon P. Chase, O., Dec. 1864.
- Morrison R. Waite, O., Jan. 21, 1874.
7. The following are the names of the Associate Justices with the dates of their appointment and the States from which they were appointed: