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390 Edyta Sokalskaa variety of reasons, including money and time, and the unlikely chance ofSupreme Court review; the parties abandon their fight, resulting in thedecision of the court of appeals being the final one 31 .It should be noticed that the federal courts of appeal have the right todisagree with one another and decisions from one circuit only have persuasiveprecedential effect in another circuit. The result is that there can be andoften is a different rule on a point of federal law in New York (a state in theSecond Circuit) and in California (a state in the Ninth Circuit). Just sucha ‘split in the circuits’ forms one basis for the Supreme Court to exercise itspower to review decisions of the circuit courts of appeal 32 .The United States Supreme Court is the third tier of the federal courtsof the general jurisdiction. Of course, it is the highest tire of the federalcourts of general jurisdiction. Article III of the Constitution places the Judicialpower of the federal government in “one supreme court, and in suchinferior courts” as the Congress might establish. The constitution grants theSupreme Court original jurisdiction in cases in which states are a party andthose involving diplomats, but leaves Congress to determine the size andresponsibilities of the Court that is the capstone of the federal judiciary. TheJudiciary act of 1789 established a Supreme Court with one chief of justiceand five associate justices. The further act defined the jurisdiction of theSupreme Court to include appellate jurisdiction in larger civil cases in whichstate courts ruled on federal statutes. Congress required the justices of theSupreme Court to preside with the local federal judges on the U.S. circuitcourts that met in judicial districts throughout the nation, thus insuring thatmembers of the highest court would participate in the principal trial courts ofthe federal judiciary and be familiar with the procedures of the state courts 33 .As the nation expanded, the size of the Supreme Court grew to accommodatethe establishment of new circuits. The duties of circuit riding requiredthe Supreme Court justices to spend most of the time traveling andprompted recurrent efforts to reduce or eliminate this responsibility. Congressin 1793 reduced the number of justices required to hold circuit fromtwo to one. In the Judiciary Act of 1801 Congress created separate circuitjudgeship and freed the justices from any circuit court duties. But in 1802the justices were again assigned to serve on the U.S. circuit courts, althoughthe district was allowed to preside alone in some instances. The establishmentof separate circuit judgeship in 1869 relieved the circuit obligations ofthe justices.31 B. Schwartz, The Law in America, American Heritage Publishing Co., New York 2004,p. 130.32 L. Brilmayer, Conflict of Laws, [in:] A.B. Morrison (ed.), Fundamentals of AmericanLaw, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, p. 178–180.33 J.V. Calvi, S. Coleman, op. cit., p. 42.