Federal Courts

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article I.8.9: "The Congress shall have Power …To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court." This means that the federal government is responsible to have "an adequate federal court system available for the adjudication of problems coming under federal jurisdiction." It also means that the people have the right for appropriate judicial service.

This provision is repeated in Article III.1: "The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish…."

Some of the "inferior" courts are district or trial courts, circuit courts, Court of Claims, Court of Customs Appeal, and Court of Tax Appeals. Inferior courts are to be established or abolished according to need.

Ideas and quotes other than the Constitution are from W. Cleon Skousen in The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, pp. 433-434.