United States circuit court

826, also known as the Evarts Act) transferred their appellate jurisdiction to the newly created United States circuit courts of appeals, which are now known as the United States courts of appeals.

[2] Riding circuit took a great deal of time (about half of the year) and was both physically demanding and dangerous.

However, "members of Congress held firm to the belief that circuit riding benefited the justices and the populace, and they turned a deaf ear to the corps of justices that desired to abolish the practice.

"[2] The Judiciary Act of 1869 established a separate circuit court (and allowed the hiring of judges specifically to handle the cases) but the act required that Supreme Court justices had to ride circuit once every two years.

This "circuit riding" arrangement meant that the Supreme Court justices spent the majority of the year traveling to each district within their circuit to conduct trials, and spent far less time assembled at the capital to hear appeals.

Before the oppositional Democratic-Republican administration of Thomas Jefferson took power, Adams took advantage of the Act to nominate several new federal judges expected to support the Federalist agenda.