Early in the 1800’s Congress decided that Supreme Court judges still had to be judges on the Circuit Court. That means that each judge was required to hold court for cases in states that they were assigned to judge. This meant that some judges were far away from Washington and sometimes did not make the trip back to Washington for the Supreme Court session. Chief Justice John Marshall had Virginia and North Carolina which were close to his home in Virginia. One of the most infamous cases he had to judge was Aaron Burr’s trial for treason. In the end Marshall ruled for Burr which infuriated President Jefferson. Jefferson thought that the verdict was because of the animosity between him and Marshall but he obviously forgot that Marshall was no friend of Burr who had killed Marshall’s friend and political ally Alexander Hamilton. Marshall had ruled strictly on the basis of the treason laws.

(Book – John Marshall – Jean Edward Smith)