Circuit

United States v. Cruikshank

The Supreme Court decision that limited the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and weakened enforcement of federal Reconstruction policies.

Thomas Todd

An orphan who became a respected land title attorney, Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, and the first Associate Supreme Court Justice appointed from west of the Appalachian Mountains

The Judiciary Act of 1891

The law that created the United States Courts of Appeals and helped shape the modern judiciary.

The Judiciary Act of 1789

Tennessee v. Ed Johnson

The historic state court case where the mob lynching of a Tennessee man led to the first and only criminal trial at the Supreme Court of the United States

Riding the Circuit

The rather challenging additional responsibility held by Supreme Court Justices until the early 1900s

Joseph Story

The poet-at-heart who became the youngest Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and a leading Constitutional scholar whose work continues to influence modern interpretations of law.

Joseph P. Bradley

The Supreme Court Justice who held the deciding vote on the Electoral Commission for the presidential election of 1876.

Bushrod Washington

A learned judge whose tireless pursuit of legal knowledge was the keystone of his judgments as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

Affirming Judicial Independence

Through a series of landmark decisions, the Justices of the Marshall Court affirmed the judicial independence of the federal courts, the authority of the Supreme Court, and ensured that the Judicial Branch was an equal branch of the federal government.