1. The Constitution authorizes Congress to establish lower federal courts, but it does not require any federal court other than the Supreme Court. Why did members of the first Congress establish federal district and circuit courts?

Related Documents: 1, 2; Related Talking Points: 2, 3, 7.

2. For more than 100 years, Congress required Supreme Court justices to serve on federal trial courts throughout the nation, despite the enormous practical difficulties of travel and of managing the growing caseload in all federal courts. What was the role of the justices in the trial courts? Why were members of Congress so determined to preserve the circuit responsibilities of the Supreme Court justices?

Related Documents: 3, 4, 5, 8; Related Talking Points: 3, 5, 7, 8, 9.

3. Since 1891, Congress and the courts have steadily restricted the right to review by the Supreme Court until that court's jurisdiction is now almost entirely discretionary. How has this restriction on the right to review changed the role of the Supreme Court within the system of federal courts?

Related Documents: 3, 6, 9; Related Talking Points: 9.

4. How has the federal court system reflected and protected different legal traditions and procedures throughout the nation?

Related Documents: 1, 3, 5; Related Talking Points: 1, 3, 7.

5. The Bill of Rights guarantees a "speedy" trial in criminal prosecutions, and Senator Joseph Norton Dolph and Chief Justice William Howard Taft believed speed and efficiency in all court proceedings were essential to maintaining public confidence in the judiciary. Why did Dolph and Taft think efficiency was so important in the court system? Did their emphasis on speed and efficiency conflict with other traditional goals of the federal judiciary?

Related Documents: 7, 9; Related Talking Points: 8, 9, 10.

6. The dual state and federal court systems have made the judiciary of the United States nearly unique among nations with federal governments. Why did the supporters of the Judiciary Act of 1789 propose to divide jurisdiction over some types of cases and to authorize shared jurisdiction in other types of cases? How has the balance of federal and state jurisdiction changed over the course of United States history?

Related Documents: 1, 2, 6; Related Talking Points: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6.