riminal cases were heard in state courts throughout the country, while only 212,000 such cases were heard in federal courts. State courts heard controversies involving a very wide range of subjects, while federal courts were limited to those defined under federal powers in Article III. As will be seen below, federal courts are often the subject of appeals by state prisoners, who argue that their constitutional rights were violated.
The Constitution did not establish the lower federal courts; this occurred with the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789. Of prime importance to legislators at that time was the limitation of federal judicial jurisdiction so that it would not eclipse state judicial jurisdiction. For the first decades of their existence, the lower federal courts were largely limited to hearing admiralty cases and cases involving diversity of citizenship. The federal judges were selected with the advice and consent of the Senate and presided over the federal courts in which they lived and
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