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 196 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members: Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U.S. 375 (1904), is a landmark decision under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

It marked the success of the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt in destroying the Beef Trust.

The federal government's victory in the case encouraged it to pursue other antitrust actions.

Public opinion, outraged by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, which depicted horribly unsanitary conditions in Chicago's meatpacking plants, supported the decision.