This Day In History

February 1st 1790: The United States Supreme Court meets for the first time

On this day in 1790 the highest court in the US, the Supreme Court, met for the first time at the Merchants’ Exchange Building in New York City. The Court is the only one specifically established in the Constitution (in Article III), and was implemented in 1789 with the Judiciary Act. The location of the court moved a number of times, finally gaining its own building in 1935. The Court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The first Chief Justice was John Jay. The original role of the Supreme Court was jurisdiction over “all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution” (Article III, Section II). The 1803 landmark case Marbury v. Madison formed the basis for the Supreme Court’s exercise of judicial review, when they can invalidate laws by declaring them ‘unconstitutional’.