<P> The ratification of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court in 1789 . Its powers are detailed in Article Three of the Constitution . The Supreme Court was the only court specifically established by the Constitution while all other federal courts were created by Congress . Congress is also responsible for conferring the title of "justice" to its members, who are known to scold lawyers for inaccurately referring to them as "judge", even though it is the term used in the Constitution . </P> <P> The Court first convened on February 2, 1790 with six judges where only five of its six initial positions were filled . According to historian Fergus Bordewich, in its first session: "(T) he Supreme Court convened for the first time at the Royal Exchange Building on Broad Street, a few steps from Federal Hall . Symbolically, the moment was pregnant with promise for the republic, this birth of a new national institution whose future power, admittedly, still existed only in the eyes and minds of just a few visionary Americans . Impressively bewigged and swathed in their robes of office, Chief Justice John Jay and three associate justices--William Cushing of Massachusetts, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, and John Blair of Virginia--sat augustly before a throng of spectators and waited for something to happen . Nothing did . They had no cases to consider . After a week of inactivity, they adjourned until September, and everyone went home ." </P> <P> The sixth member, James Iredell, was not confirmed until May 12, 1790 . Because the full Court had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was also made by two - thirds (voting four to two). However, Congress has always allowed less than the Court's full membership to make decisions, starting with a quorum of four justices in 1789 . </P> <P> Under Chief Justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth (1789--1801), the Court heard few cases; its first decision was West v. Barnes (1791), a case involving a procedural issue . The Court lacked a home of its own and had little prestige, a situation not helped by the highest - profile case of the era, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), which was reversed within two years by the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment . </P>

When did the supreme court go to 9 justices