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.

When the cases in volume 132 U.S. were decided the Court comprised the following nine members: Smith v. Bolles, 132 U.S. 125 (1889), was an action to recover out-of-pocket damages for alleged fraudulent representations in the sale of shares of mining stock.

The case is important in contract law, as to legal remedies and compensating expectancies.

The Supreme Court held that the measure of damages is not the difference between the contract price and the fair market value if the property had been properly represented, but rather what the plaintiff had lost by being deceived into making the purchase.