<P> The relevant constitutional clause states: </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> Certain cases that have not been considered by a lower court may be heard by the Supreme Court in the first instance under what is termed original jurisdiction . The Supreme Court's authority in this respect is also derived from Article III of the Constitution, which states that the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction "in all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party ." The original jurisdiction of the Court is set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1251 . This statute provides further that, in the case of disputes between two or more states, the Supreme Court holds both original and exclusive jurisdiction and no lower court may hear such cases . </P> <P> In one of its earliest cases, Chisholm v. Georgia, the Court found this jurisdiction to be self - executing, so that no further Congressional action was required to permit the Court to exercise it . </P>

When a court has original jurisdiction a case