Congress established the Court of Claims with jurisdiction to hear and determine all monetary claims against the United States based on a federal statute, an executive branch regulation, or a contract with the federal government. Initially the court reported to Congress, but was in 1863 granted the authority to issue its own decisions. After the Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from the court in 1865 because its decisions were subject to review by the executive branch in the form of the Treasury Department, Congress abolished the review requirement and provided specifically for appeals to the Supreme Court. In 1887, the Tucker Act further restricted the claims that could be presented to Congress, making the Court of Claims the principal forum for claims against the federal government. The Court of Claims was abolished in 1982, and its judges and much of its jurisdiction were transferred to the new U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
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Cases that Shaped the Federal Courts: Gordon v. United States (1865)