| September 24, 1789 1 Stat. 73 |
Judiciary Act of 1789 organized the Supreme Court and provided for the appointment of a Chief Justice and five associate justices. |
| February 13, 1801 2 Stat. 89 |
Judiciary Act of 1801 provided that upon the next vacancy on the Supreme Court, the number of justices would be reduced to five, including the Chief Justice. (No vacancy occurred before the repeal of this act.) |
| March 8, 1802 2 Stat. 132 |
Repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801 restored the number of justices to six. |
| February 24, 1807 2 Stat. 420 |
Appointment of one additional justice authorized. |
| March 3, 1837 5 Stat. 176 |
Appointment of two additional justices authorized. |
| March 3, 1863 12 Stat. 794 |
Appointment of one additional justice authorized. |
| July 23, 1866 14 Stat. 209 |
This act reduced the number of authorized seats on the Supreme Court from ten to seven and provided that no vacancies were to be filled until the Court reached the prescribed size. (The number of justices serving on the Supreme Court fell to eight before revision of the act in 1869.) |
| April 10, 1869 16 Stat. 44 |
The act increased the size of the Supreme Court to nine justices, one for each of the judicial circuits established in 1866. |
| Authorized Number of Justices | |
| 1789 | 6 |
| 1801 | 5 |
| 1802 | 6 |
| 1807 | 7 |
| 1837 | 9 |
| 1863 | 10 |
| 1866 | 7 |
| 1869 | 9 |