 In United States v. Ortega (1826), the Court held that it was not unconstitutional to vest original jurisdiction for the criminal trial of assaults on ambassadors in the circuit courts. The Court did not reach the question of whether the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court could be made concurrent with a lower court, instead holding that the criminal trial of an assault on an ambassador was not a "Case [] affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls" within the meaning of Article Three. Justice Washington, the author of the Court's opinion, had also delivered the jury charge below.
