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The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of different States;—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law direct.
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Editorial note. Article III was drafted at the Federal Convention of 1787 to establish a national judiciary independent of the political branches. Section 2 defines the outer limits of that judicial power. The First Congress implemented these provisions through the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the inferior federal courts and structured Supreme Court appellate review.
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Editorial note. Section 2 confines federal judicial power to genuine "Cases" and "Controversies"—a limitation that grounds the doctrines of standing, ripeness, mootness, and the prohibition on advisory opinions—and simultaneously secures the criminal jury as an institutional check on federal prosecutorial power.
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Editorial note. Federal judicial power extends only to the nine enumerated heads of jurisdiction in Clause 1. Clause 2 divides that power between the Supreme Court's constitutionally fixed original jurisdiction and its appellate jurisdiction, which Congress may regulate. Clause 3 requires jury trial for all federal criminal prosecutions except impeachment.
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Editorial note. Section 2 governs the subject-matter jurisdiction of every Article III court. It does not confer legislative or executive power, does not itself vest jurisdiction in any inferior court (Congress must do so by statute), and does not reach controversies outside the enumerated heads.
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Editorial note. The Case-or-Controversy requirement is the doctrinal foundation of Article III standing (Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555 (1992)) and the bar on advisory opinions (Muskrat v. United States, 219 U.S. 346 (1911)). Congress's power to make "Exceptions" to appellate jurisdiction was upheld in Ex parte McCardle, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 506 (1869). Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), held that Congress cannot enlarge the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction beyond the text of Clause 2.
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Editorial note. Section 2 continues to define the constitutional floor of federal-court jurisdiction. The justiciability doctrines derived from it—standing, ripeness, mootness, political-question—shape virtually every federal case. Federal-question and diversity jurisdiction, exercised daily by the district courts, derive from Clauses 1(a) and 1(g), implemented by 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1332.
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Editorial note. Section 2 must be read together with U.S. Const. amend. VII (jury trial in civil actions in federal court), U.S. Const. amend. VI (procedural rights in federal criminal trials), and U.S. Const. amend. XI (withdrawal of federal judicial power over specified suits against a State).
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Editorial note. Every federal complaint, indictment, and petition ultimately traces its authority to Article III, Section 2. Jurisdictional analysis in federal practice is, at bottom, an inquiry into whether the matter fits within one of its enumerated heads.
Revision history
- 1787-09-17 — Article III, Section 2 adopted as part of the Constitution signed at the Federal Convention in Philadelphia.
- 1788-06-21 — Effective upon ratification by the ninth State (New Hampshire) under Article VII.
- 1795-02-07 — Clause 1 modified in part by ratification of the Eleventh Amendment, which withdraws federal judicial power over suits commenced or prosecuted against a State by citizens of another State or of any foreign state.