The Constitution
The Constitution of the United States, Article III:
“Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviors, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
“Section 2. … In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be a Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”
“Justice Douglas, you must remember one thing. At the constitutional level where we work, ninety per cent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections.”
—The late Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes as quoted by the late Associate Justice William O. Douglas in his autobiography The Court Years, 1939‒1975, Random House, 1980
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