I'm Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to the

latest of our We the People Constitutional Podcasts.

The National Constitution Center is the only institution in America chartered by Congress to disseminate information about the

U.S. Constitution on a non-partisan basis.

And this week we're celebrating the 225th anniversary of the Judiciary Act, which gave birth to our modern judicial system.

Article 3, Section 1 of the Constitution says, quote,

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.

Article 3 goes on to enumerate the extent of the judicial power and the definition of treason.

But the framers of the Constitution mostly left it up to Congress to ordain and establish the rules and institutions that make up our third branch of government,

and the first Congress took up that challenge,

drafting a solution to the delicate question

of how robust judicial power should be

under the leadership of Senator Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut.

That bill, the Judiciary Act was signed into law by President George Washington on September 24,

1789, 225 years ago this week. I can think of no one better suited to discuss this

important anniversary with me than Jeff Meniere. Jeff is counselor to Chief Justice

John Roberts. The counselor helps to Chief Justice John Roberts.

The counselor helps the Chief Justice with tasks related to his role as head of the judicial

branch of government, as well as the non-case related duties that fall to the chief judicial officer of the Supreme Court.

Jeff previously served as an assistant to the solicitor general of the United States

where he argued 56 cases before the Supreme Court and he's held appointments as a visiting or adjunct

...