In response to growing caseloads that threatened to overwhelm the federal judiciary, Congress in 1891 created a separate tier of appellate courts known as the U.S. circuit courts of appeals. The Evarts Act, named after Senator William Evarts of New York, authorized a court of appeals in each of the nine existing circuits as well as an additional judgeship for each circuit. The Act stripped the U.S. circuit courts of their appellate jurisdiction but left them to operate as trial courts. Congress granted the new courts appellate jurisdiction over most cases from the district and circuit courts, while some cases, such as those involving constitutional issues, could be appealed directly from a trial court to the Supreme Court. In diversity cases and in some other categories of suits, no appeal as of right from a court of appeals to the Supreme Court was available, but the Court could hear any case of its choosing by issuing a writ of certiorari.

See also:

Landmark Legislation: U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals

The Role of the U.S. Courts of Appeals in the Federal Judiciary