such injunction may be authorized by any law relating to proceedings in bankruptcy." 33 This section does not prevent a federal court from enjoining proceedings in a state court for the purpose of protecting its own jurisdiction.34 As has already been stated, the decisions of the state courts of last resort in matters of state law are usually binding upon all federal courts administering state law, and decisions of the United States Supreme Court in matters of federal law are binding on the state courts administering federal law. Decisions in other cases are persuasive only. § 46. Comity between federal courts inter se. The decisions of inferior federal courts are not binding upon federal courts of the same grade, though they may have weight as persuasive authority. Thus the decisions of one district court or circuit court of appeals do not bind another district court or circuit court of appeals, respectively. Nor do the decisions of one circuit court of appeals bind the district and circuit courts of another circuit. The ruling of one district court is usually binding in subsequent cases in the same district. The nine circuit courts of appeals are entirely independent of each other. As a matter of comity and for the sake of uniformity, the inferior courts should follow each other's decisions whenever practicable. As declared by the circuit court of appeals of the first circuit in a case before it, "If the question at issue had been met by the United States circuit court of appeals in any other circuit, we should, of course, lean strongely to harmonize with it." 35 And it is the constant practice of the federal courts of any grade to cite the decisions of other federal courts, even the 33-Rev. St. § 720, 4 Fed. St. Ann. 509. 34-Harkrader v. Wadley, 172 U. S. 148; Julian v. Central Trust Co., 193 U. S. 93. 35-Beal v. Somerville, 50 Fed. 652. Supreme Court citing the decisions of the district courts and circuit courts of appeals. Of course the decisions of the Supreme Court are binding on all inferior federal courts. CHAPTER V THE FEDERAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN GENERAL § 47. The constitutional provisions. § 48. Judicial districts and circuits. § 49. The federal judges. § 50. Enumeration of the federal courts. § 47. The constitutional provisions. The Constitution provides that "The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish," and also that Congress shall have power "to constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court." The Constitution thus itself provides for a supreme court, but leaves the establishment of the inferior courts entirely to Congress. § 48. Judicial districts and circuits. By the Judiciary Act and its amendments the United States is divided into judicial districts, each state forming at least one district, and the larger states being divided into two or more districts. Alabama and Pennsylvania are each divided into three districts, and New York and Texas into four. In many cases the districts are subdivided into two or more "divisions." The districts are entirely confined to the boundaries of a single state, no judicial district lying in two states. Altogether there are now about eighty districts and for each district there is a district court.3 The judicial districts are grouped by states into nine circuits, as follows: First Circuit: Rhode Island, Massa 1-Art. III, § 1. 2-Art. I, § 8. 3-Judicial Code, §§ 69-115. chusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Porto Rico; Second Circuit: Vermont, Connecticut, and New York; Third Circuit: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware; Fourth Circuit: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; Fifth Circuit: Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas; Sixth Circuit: Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee; Seventh Circuit: Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin; Eighth Circuit: Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Oklahoma; Ninth Circuit: California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Hawaii.* § 49. The federal judges. The federal judges are appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Constitution provides that "The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold office during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office."' 6 The salary of a federal judge (unlike that of the President, who holds office for only four years) may be increased during his continuance in office, and Congress has on several occasions increased judicial salaries." A federal judge, being appointed for life ("during good behavior") can be removed from office only by impeachment proceedings, upon conviction of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."8 The life tenure of the Supreme Court justices gives universal 4-Judicial Code, § 116. For former law, see 4 Fed. St. Ann. 7. Porto Rico was added to the first circuit by act of Jan. 28, 1915 (38 Stat. L. 803). 5-Const. Art. II, § 2. 7-Under the Judicial Code the salary of the chief justice of the Su- satisfaction, but at times the bar has not been so well satisfied with this provision in the case of the inferior judges. Ordinarily the only way to get rid of a federal judge is for him to die or resign. The remedy by impeachment can rarely be successfully employed, but, fortunately, has not often been necessary.1 9 10 By the original Judiciary Act of 1789 the only judges provided for were the justices of the Supreme Court and the district judges. By an act of 1869 an additional judge for each circuit was provided for known as the "circuit judge." The number of circuit judges has since been increased. At present (1916) there are nine (9) Supreme Court justices, thirty-two (32) circuit judges (from two to five for each circuit), and ninety-five (95) district judges, making a total of one hundred and thirtysix (136) federal judges in the regular federal judicial system.11 Besides these there are judges of the Court of Claims, Court of Customs Appeals, etc. 9-Several justices of the Supreme Court have resigned, e. g., Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth and Justices Benjamin R. Curtis, William Strong, Noah H. Swayne, George Shiras, Henry B. Brown and William H. Moody (under special act of Congress). Occasionally also judges of the inferior federal courts resign. Judges who have served ten years continuously and have attained the age of seventy years may retire on full pay for life. Rev. St., § 714 (Amended in 1909), Supp. (1909) Fed. St. Ann. 294; Judicial Code, $260. 10-Five federal judges have been impeached, namely, Judge John Pickering in 1803, removed; Justice Samuel Chase of the Supreme Court, and Judge James Peck in 1804, both acquitted; Judge West H. Humphreys in 1860, removed; Judge Robert W. Archbald of the Commerce Court in 1912, removed. An unsuccessful attempt was also made to impeach Judge Charles Swayne in 1905. About the time of the removal of Judge Archbald two other federal judges were threatened with impeachment, and the activity in this line seems to have had a wholesome effect on the popular mind, and, perhaps, also on the federal bench at large. The successful appeal to this remedy revived confidence in it and no doubt was influential in bringing about the decline of the agitation for the judicial recall. 11-A complete list of the inferior federal judges by circuits will be found in each volume of the Federal Reporter. Five circuit judges were added to the former number by the act establishing the Commerce Court. Their tenure was not affected by the abolishment of that court. |