Congress and the Courts

About Congress and the Courts

This HeinOnline database brings together materials prepared by various congresses relating to the purpose, formation, organization, and restructuring of Article III Courts. Featuring Congress and the Courts: A Legislative History 1787-2018, compiled by Bernard D. Reams, Jr. and several other compilers, the database focuses on the development and growth of the judiciary, and is a source of original material of congressional fact-finding and decision-making.

The core of the database is the division of this legislative history into two browsing options: one, by volume, and the other, by part. The seven parts included within the database are: 

1. Court of Appeals
2. Creation and Growth of the Federal Judiciary
3. Federal Courts
4. Judges and Judicial Conduct
5. Other Courts
6. Proposed Reforms and Emerging Issues
7. Supreme Court

All other materials within the database were selected in order to support and provide context to the legislative history. Decades of legislative intent, testimony, and pre-enactment history is provided in one centralized resource and supplemented with Federal Judicial Center publications, periodicals, scholarly articles, Title 28 (Judicial Administration) of the Code of Federal Regulations, and more.

About Article III Courts

The judicial power of Article III Courts and their judges is established by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, which states: "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. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office." Therefore, Article III Courts include:

• The Supreme Court
• The 13 U.S. appellate courts
• The 94 U.S. district courts (89 in the 50 states, along with additional courts in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands)

Visit Database