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Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court, the nation’s highest court, was created by Article III of the U.S. Constitution during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Although it acknowledged the need for a supreme court to address legal disputes, the Constitution failed to characterize its structure or procedures. Structuring this new court and instituting its procedures was accomplished by congressional action after extensive political debate between federalists, who considered a strong central authority as best suited to grow the economy and ensure political stability of the fledgling nation, and antifederalists, who feared a strong centralized authority and advocated states rights and a more constrained federal authority. Federalists demanded that all law cases be tried in a federal court, thus empowering the federal court as a “court of the ...
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