The justices submitted their draft bill to Congress in 1921. House and Senate judiciary committees refined the legislation over the next few years. In 1924 Chief Justice William Howard Taft advised Associate Justice James Clark McReynolds—who was about to testify before a Senate subcommittee—on how to argue that the Supreme Court should have authority to select its cases.
William H. Taft Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Letter from Chief Justice William Howard Taft to Justice James Clark McReynolds, January 29, 1924
Congress and the Court Collaborate
Beginning in 1891, Congress allowed the court some discretion over its docket, but still required it to hear many appeals from lower courts. By the 1920s, the Supreme Court was backlogged with cases stemming from World War I and enforcement of liquor prohibition. Congress, with advice from Supreme Court justices, made major changes to the court’s jurisdiction in 1925. The so-called “Judges’ Bill” relieved the Court by removing all but a small set of cases from its mandatory docket.
Congress determines the structure and authority of the federal court system. In 1925 Congress and the Supreme Court collaborated in redefining the highest court’s role and narrowing its jurisdiction.
The justices submitted their draft bill to Congress in 1921. House and Senate judiciary committees refined the legislation over the next few years. In 1924 Chief Justice William Howard Taft advised Associate Justice James Clark McReynolds—who was about to testify before a Senate subcommittee—on how to argue that the Supreme Court should have authority to select its cases.
William H. Taft Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
