Within ten years of the establishment of the federal judiciary, the organization and jurisdiction of the federal courts became the subjects of fierce battles between the political parties that emerged in the 1790s. In 1801, after several years of debate on reorganization of the courts, the lame-duck Federalist majority in Congress approved an act that created new circuit courts with their own judgeships and greatly expanded federal jurisdiction at the expense of the state courts. The Judiciary Act of 1801 also abolished the circuit-riding duties of the Supreme Court justices. Although the justices had repeatedly asked for relief from circuit duties, the opposition Republicans saw the reorganization of the courts as an attempt by the Federalists to secure their hold on the judiciary soon after they had lost control of the Congress and the presidency. Republicans also feared that the expansion of federal jurisdiction would undermine the state courts and eventually the state governments. Republicans were already suspicious of the federal courts because of what they considered the partisan role of Federalist judges in the prosecution of political enemies under the Sedition Act of 1798.
With the support of President Thomas Jefferson, the new Republican majority in Congress soon repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801 and restored much of the court system, including circuit riding, that had been established in 1789. To Federalists, the repeal and consequent removal of the new circuit judges was a violation of the constitutional protection of judges’ tenure during good behavior. The subsequent impeachment of two partisan judges further inflamed Federalist fears, and Jefferson, along with many of his allies, continued to advocate limits on federal jurisdiction and on judicial tenure. The organizational structure of the court system reestablished in 1802, however, would remain the same until after the Civil War.
