Its Organization.

The Constitution provides that there shall be a Supreme Court of the United States, and such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. It is also provided that "the judges both of the supreme and inferior courts shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office;" 1 and that the judges of the Supreme Court shall be nominated by the President and appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.2 All the other federal justices are similarly appointed, but it is within the power of Congress to vest their appointment "in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments." 2

With the exception then of the tenure of office,3 and the constitutional provision regarding appointment of the justices of the Supreme Court, the form of organization, the number of justices, etc., the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, are wholly within the control of Congress.

The practice and procedure to be followed in these courts is also within the control of Congress except as to certain mandatory provisions with reference to jury trial, second jeopardy, speedy and public trial, etc., contained principally in the first eight l Art. III, Sec. L

2 Art. II, Sec. II, CI. 2.

3 The exception does not apply to the territorial courts or the Courts of Private Land Claims, and such quasi-judicial bodies as the Interstate Commerce Commission as these are not considered, properly speaking, as parts of the federal judiciary but rather as agents of Congress. Clinton v. Englebrecht, 13 Wall. 434; 20 L. ed. 659. See section 161. The Court of Claims, however, and the courts of the District of Columbia are federal and not congressional courts.

Amendments to the Constitution. These constitutional rights, immunities, and privileges guaranteed to the individual are considered elsewhere.