The ratification of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court in 1789. Its powers are detailed in Article Three of the Constitution . The Supreme Court is the only court specifically established by the Constitution, and all the others were created by Congress . Congress is also responsible for conferring the title "justice" upon the associate justices, who have been known to scold lawyers for instead using the term "judge" which is the term used by the Constitution. [ 2 ] The Court first convened on February 2, 1790, [ 3 ] by which time five of its six initial positions had been filled. The sixth member ( James Iredell ) joined on May 12, 1790. Because the full Court had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was also made by two-thirds (voting four to two). [ 4 ] However, Congress has always allowed less than the Court's full membership to make decisions, starting with a quorum of four judges in 1789. [ 5 ] Under Chief Justices Jay , Rutledge , and Ellsworth (1789–1801), the Court heard few cases; its first decision was West v. Barnes (1791), a case involving a procedural issue. [ 6 ] The Court lacked a home of its own and had little prestige, [ 7 ] a situation not helped by the highest-profile case of the era, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), which was reversed within two years by the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment . [ 8 ]