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.

were decided the Court comprised only these eight members: Levi Woodbury Le Roy v. Tatham, 55 U.S. (14 How.)

156 (1852), is a decision of the Supreme Court holding that an abstract principle can neither be patented nor claimed as an exclusive right.

528 (1853), the Supreme Court held that a copyright is only notional property and has no corporeal tangible substance, so cannot be seized or sold in an execution sale.