Article III of the U.S. Constitution set forth a broad framework for the federal judiciary while leaving Congress to fill in the details later. The article also defined the judicial power of the United States, thereby determining the outer limits of federal court jurisdiction. The judicial power was extended to “all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of different States;—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.” Except for a brief period from 1801 to 1802, it was not until 1875 that Congress granted the federal courts the full range of jurisdiction set forth in Article III.
See also: