Judicial Circuits Act

It also provided for the gradual reduction in the number of seats on the Supreme Court from the ten that had been authorized in 1863 to seven and established in large measure the geographical outlines of the circuits ever since.

Eventually, Grier was replaced by William Strong, and Joseph P. Bradley was installed in the lately created seat, restoring the Court to its new de jure strength of nine.

The geographical reorganization of the circuits in 1866 coincided with the broader effort of the Republican majority in Congress to reduce what it considered the disproportionate influence enjoyed by the southern states before the Civil War.

The tradition of appointing a justice from each circuit allowed Southern slaveowners to dominate the Supreme Court.

The legislation owed less to the Republican opposition and to Johnson, who signed the act, than to the efforts of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase.