T he Supreme Court of the United States did not start out as the powerful, at times imperious, institution of today. Under the Articles of Confederation of 1777, there were no federal courts at all. The third branch added by the constitution in 1789 was, at first, something of a third wheel. The justices met in the basement of the Capitol when the government moved to the District of Columbia in 1800. Congress paid the Supreme Court little courtesy, sending justices to “ride circuit” over the summer and even cancelling their term from April 1802 to February 1803.
美国最高法院并不是当今有力的，有时是卑鄙的机构。根据1777年联邦的条款，根本没有联邦法院。宪法在1789年添加的第三个分支起初是第三轮。当政府于1800年搬到哥伦比亚特区时，大法官在国会大厦的地下室会面。国会对最高法院的小礼貌付出了，在夏季将大法官送往“乘车巡回赛”，甚至从1802年4月至1803年2月取消了任期。
