Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-05-19


President, 10 the seventh, ninth, and tenth Cir
cults, until the next term Of the Supreme Court,
and when it was made the duty Of the Judges
to allot themselves TO the several Circuits, and
make record thereof according 10 law, as in
other cases.
The third section repealed all such laws as
vested Circuit Court powers in the several Dis
trct Courts, and enacted that the Circuit Courts,
in such Districts, should be holden by the JUS
tice of the Supreme Court allotted to the Cir
cur, and The District Judge of the District, at
the times and places now established by law for
District Courts therein, exercising the jurls6ic-
ton of District Courts. The Committee need
hardly remind the House, that the Judges OF
the Supreme Court are appointed and commits
stoned as Judges of tina, Court only, and have no
other appointment or commission whatever
The new appointed Judges are, Of course, by
the first section of the bill, to possess the like
powers and duties as the other Judges: that is, they
are to be appointed Justices OF the Supreme
Court, and nothing more.
The House also needs not to be informed, that
by the act Of April, 500, it was provided, that
on every appointment Of Judge Of the Su-
preme Court, the Judges should allot them
selves among the Circuits, as they should see
fiji, and enter such allotment on record; and on
| the appointment of Judge, the President was
authorised to make the allotments, which should
he binding until the next session OF the Court,
or until the Court should make new allotment.
These provisions apply to the Court, and to all
vacancies occurring, as il was constituted by
that act The present bill, as it passed this
House, applied the same provision 10 the Judg-
es about to be appointed. They were to be APP
pointed as Justices of the Supreme Court; they
were to be allotted by the President until the
meeting Of the Court, when new allotmenl was
to be made and recorded. All this, the Com.
mit,ee trust, is plain and ineligible; and il is
according 10 the Constitution * standing Laws.
The amendment Of the Senate is as follows:
"Strike out The second section, and, in lieu
thereof, insert the following:
"That the seventh Judicial Circuit of the u
nited States shall hereafter consist of the Dis
tricts of Ohio and Kentucky; and that the Dis
tricts of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, shall
form the eighth circuit; the Districts OF len
nessee and Alabama shall form tn, ninth cir
cult; and the Districts of Mississippi and Loui-
siana shall form the tenth circuit; and the JUS
,ice Of the Supreme Court,appointed Tor each Of
said seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth Circuits,
shall reside therein"
This amendment consists Of two distinct
parts, and il is necessary TO state them sepa-
ra,ey.
! The first proposes new arrangement oi me
Districts into material change I'D this
respect, being this: BY the bill, as 1t passed the
House. Kentucky and Missouri formed Cir
cult. and Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana another
Circuit; and by the amendment adopted IN the
senate. Kentucky and Ohio form Circuit, and
Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, Circuit.
The Committee cannot but regard this change
&C very imDortant and material 1t ought not,
in their Judgment, to be regarded as mere
matter of detail, because it bears directly and
strongly on the leading and essential objects OF
the whole bill The great reason urged IN lne
House for the passage of the bill, was the accu-
mutation of Circuit business in the western
States In ihe..ears "or THE bill were, as they
ought to have been, directly aimed. Accor-
dinghy, in arranging the Districts into Circuits,
il was an object 10 place the larger States in
different Circuits, so that no one Circuit should
be overloaded with business. IN executing this
purpose, and for no other purpose, Kentucky
and Ohio, much the largest States, and hav
ing much the greatest accumulation Of causes,
were thrown into different Circuits.
1t did not occur 20 any single individual Of
this Committee, in preparing the bill, that these
two States ought 10 be united, or could pro-
perly be united in the same circuit; nor did any
member Of the House make any suggestion to
that effect, during the long time that the bill
was under discussion here. Ii is a fact that
cannot, as the Committee believe, be disputed,
that the two States Of Kentucky and Ohio con.
tain more than majority Of the people Of all
the western states, and much more than half of
all the judicial business in the United States
Courts Of these States BY the provisions of
the bill there are TO be four western circuits;
and yet, if the Senate's amendment be adopted,
this single circuit will comprehend more peo
pie, and more business, than all the three o.
Tiers, if put together. Kentucky and Ohio are
represented on the floor of this House by TWEEN
ty-six representatives, and it is stated to the
Committee, that there are twelve hundred suits
brought in the circuit courts, in those States, a
wear In the seven other western States, in.
Guiding Tennessee, there are but twenty-one re-
pre- sentatives, and there are stated 10 be eight
hundred and fifty suits brought in year. Nine
Of these representatives are from Tennessee, &
five hundred of the suits in the Circuit Court
in that State. From Indiana, Illinois, and Mis-
souri,, there are but five representatives, and al
the utmost, not more than one hundred and Six
| ,y suits brought in year.
Now, when it is remembered that the main
argumen, for passing the bill, and for creating
so grea. number OF new Judges as three, was,