which are desired by the executive. What characteristic principle of our government would such a course violate?

2. What is meant by the words: "To the victor belong the spoils''? 3. To which of the executive departments would you take a claim for pensions? a request for a passport in foreign countries? an application for a patent an application for admission to the academy at West Point a request for a sample of a new kind of seed? an application for a position in the life-saving service? a complaint of ill treatment in a foreign land? a request for a copyright on a book? an application for service as an architect?

4. What is a bureaucracy?

5. Prepare a five-minute paper on "The organization and work of the Department of the Treasury. Consult the "congressional directory," a copy of which may be obtained from your representative in Congress.

6. How could you secure a position as a stenographer in the federal service? Consult report of the Civil Service Commission, a document which may be obtained by writing for it to Washington.

Topics for Special Work. - The Cabinet: 8, 227-245; 2, 64–70. For an account of the workings of the several executive departments of the National Government: 16. The Cabinet: 30, 211-218. Civil Service Reform: 30, 232-237.

XX

THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY

The Independence of the Federal Judiciary. Under the Articles of the Confederation disputes between States as to boundaries and cases involving charges of piracy or felony committed on the high sea could be tried by Congress, but since there was no executive to enforce the decisions the judicial power of the old government was a mere shadow. The framers of the Constitution completed the machinery of the new government by establishing a judicial department independent of the other departments and equal to them in rank and dignity. They regarded the independence of this third department as of the highest importance. The new federal judges were to administer justice not only between man and man, but between State and State. Even conflicts of section with section might reach a settlement in the decisions of the federal judiciary. It was necessary, therefore, that a federal judge in rendering a decision should fear neither the President nor Congress, that he should incline neither to this political party nor to that, that he should avoid anything like partiality towards a particular section or locality, that he should be, as far as possible, uninfluenced by personal considerations of any kind. The Constitution does all that can be done to secure an independent judiciary. It is true the President appoints the federal judges (96), but once appointed they cannot be removed except for cause (106), and then only by the solemn process of impeachment. Moreover, the salary of a federal judge is secure; it may be increased, but it can never be decreased (106). Indeed, the condi

tions which surround the federal judiciary render it as independent as it is possible to make it.

The Organization of the Federal Courts. In the administration of justice there is always a gradation of courts, lower courts for the least important cases, higher courts for the weightier cases and a highest or supreme court. The men of the Convention doubtless had the existing graded system of State courts in mind when they planned for the federal judiciary, but in the Constitution they indicated the organization of the federal courts only in the broadest manner. They provided for the Supreme Court (105) and left the establishment and the gradation of the lower courts to the action of Congress. A Supreme Court there must be, just as there must be a President, but the existence of the lower courts depends upon legislation.

One of the first things done by the first Congress was to pass (1789) the Judiciary Act by which the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts were organized. This famous law provided that the Supreme Court should consist of a chief justice and five associate justices. The office of Chief Justice is established by the Constitution (22), but the further organization of the Supreme Court rests with Congress. The law of 1789 also created thirteen judicial districts-the boundaries of a district coinciding as a rule with those of a State-in each of which a district judge was to hold a District Court. It then grouped these districts into larger divisions called circuits-a circuit embracing several States. In each judicial circuit a district judge and an associate justice of the Supreme Court were to hold a Circuit Court. The Circuit Court was to be (as its name implies) a wandering court, and was to go from district to district to hold its sessions. The Act of 1789 further created the office of Attorney-general (p. 141) and provided a marshal (sheriff) for each judicial district.

Although under the Judiciary Act of 1789 there were

three grades of courts,-the District, the Circuit and the Supreme Court,-there were only two grades of judges, district judges and justices of the Supreme Court. In 1801 Congress provided for sixteen circuit judges for the circuit courts, but through the influence of Jefferson, who was jealous of the power of the federal judiciary, the office of circuit judge was abolished in the following year. Jefferson could not remove the circuit judges, and their salaries could not be taken from them, but the act creating the office could be repealed and was repealed.

With the growth of the population and the admission of new States the work of the courts became very heavy, and in 1869 Congress found it necessary to revive the office of circuit judge. It provided for nine circuit judges, one for each of the nine circuits then existing, and at the same time made the Supreme Court to consist of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each member of the Supreme Court is assigned to one of the nine circuits as its circuit justice. A session of the Circuit Court may be held by the circuit justice or by a circuit judge or by two of the district judges within the circuit. In practice it is rare that a member of the Supreme Court sits as a circuit justice.

In 1891 Congress provided for the appointment of an additional circuit judge in each circuit, and additions have been made in particular circuits since. Every circuit now has at least two circuit judges and several circuits have four judges each. The act of 1891, providing for the additional judges, also created a Circuit Court of Appeals designed to relieve the Supreme Court of a part of its work. This court consists of three judges selected from the circuit judges and district judges within the circuit, although one of the three may be a justice of the Supreme Court who is assigned to the circuit. There are no separate judges for the Circuit Court of Appeals, but a judge who has heard a case in a lower court cannot sit upon the same case in the higher court.

The federal judiciary, therefore, consists of four grades of courts:

I. The Supreme Court, consisting of the Chief Justice and eight associate justices. This court holds its regular sessions in the Capitol at Washington, sitting from October to July. The presence of at least six judges is required in the trial of a case, and the judgment of a majority is necessary in rendering a decision. The Chief Justice presides at the sessions of the court, but when the court is forming its decision he is on an equality with the other judges. He has but one vote, and that is often cast with the minority. In authority and dignity the Supreme Court of the United States transcends all other judicial tribunals. II. Nine Circuit Courts, each with two or three or four circuit judges.

The First Circuit consists of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island. Second-Connecticut, New York, Vermont, ThirdDelaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Fourth-Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia. Fifth-Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas. Sixth-Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee. Seventh-Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin. Eighth -Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming. Ninth-Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii.

III. Nine Circuit Courts of Appeal, composed of judges of the other courts.

IV. Ninety District Courts, each with a district judge. The boundaries of a federal judicial district frequently coincide with those of a State, although the larger States are divided into several districts.

Federal Courts Outside the Federal System. Exercising federal authority, but not a part of the federal judicial system described above is the Court of Claims, established in 1855 for the purpose of hearing claims founded upon contracts made with the government of the United States.