There was a problem when proofreading this page.
THE FIRST COURT AND THE CIRCUITS
47
o'clock, the Judges attending a dinner given that evening by the President. On February 2, Judge Blair and Attorney-General Edmund Randolph, having arrived from Virginia, the Court was organized (as stated in the newspapers) "at the Hall of the Exchange, the Marshal of New York (Mr. Smith) attended, and Mr. McKesson officiated as clerk. The jury from the District Court attended; some of the members of Congress and a number of respectable citizens also. As no business appeared to require immediate notice, the Court was adjourned."[1] The published record of the ceremony (with its quaint penalty of imprisonment in case silence should be broken during the reading of the commissions) was as follows:[2]
Proclamation was made and the Court opened. Proclamation was made for silence, while the letters patent of the Justices present are openly read, upon pain of imprisonment; whereupon letters patent under the Great Seal of the United States bearing test on the 26th day of September last, appointing the said John Jay, Esq., Chief Justice; letters patent bearing test the 27th day of September last, appointing the said William Cushing, Esq., an Associate Justice; letters patent bearing test the 29th day of September last, appointing the said James Wilson, Esq., an Associate Justice; and letters patent bearing test the 30th day of September last, appointing the said John Blair, Esq., an Associate Justice of this Court, were openly read.
Letters patent to Edmund Randolph of Virginia, Esq., bearing test the 26th day of September last aforesaid appointing him Attorney General for the United States were openly read.
- ↑ See also Iredell, II, letter of Samuel Johnson to Iredell, Feb. 1, 1790.
- ↑ See also the more concise official minutes of the Court in 134 U. S. App. In the proceedings of this first session of the Court, no record is made of any oath being administered to the Judges. It is probable that each took the oath separately, for it is known that Wilson was sworn before the Mayor of Philadelphia, Oct. 5, 1789; see History of the Supreme Court (1891), by Hampton L. Carson, 148.
