The Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which says: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . .". The size of the Court is not specified; the Constitution leaves it to Congress to set the number of justices. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices).[1] Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice).
When the cases in volume 130 U.S. were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:
Chae Chan Ping v. United States, 130 U.S. 581 (1889), also known as the Chinese Exclusion Case, was a challenge to the Scott Act of 1888, an addendum to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. One ground of challenge was conflict with the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 between the United States and China. The Supreme Court rejected the challenge and upheld the authority of the US federal government to set immigration policy and pass new legislation even if it overrode the terms of existing treaties. The decision was an important precedent for judicial deference to the plenary power of the legislative branch in immigration law, and federal authority to overturn the terms of international treaties.
Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) jurisdiction; and the United States Supreme Court, which had appellate jurisdiction over the federal District and Circuit courts—and for certain issues over state courts. The Supreme Court also had limited original jurisdiction (i.e., in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region.
Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.
"C.C.D." = United States Circuit Court for the District of . . .
e.g.,"C.C.D.N.J." = United States Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey
"D." = United States District Court for the District of . . .
