a in the
Supreme Court of the United States. That court interpreted the
clause as applying to cases in which a State is defendant, as well
as to those in which it is plaintiff. The decision was received
with disfavor by the States, and Congress proposed the Eleventh
Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1798 and is as
follows:--

_The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted
against one of the United States, by citizens of another State, or
by citizens or subjects of any foreign state_.

Original and Appellate Jurisdiction.--Clause 2. _In all cases
affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in
which a State shall be a 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 Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in "all cases affecting
ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a
State shall be a party." Original jurisdiction means that these cases
may be begun in the Supreme Court. Other cases are brought to the
Supreme Court from the inferior United States courts or from the
supreme courts of the States and Territories by appeal. In such cases
the Supreme Court is said to have appellate jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction of the Inferior Courts.--It is difficult in brief
space to define minutely the province of each court The following
accounts, therefore, give only a general description:--

The circuit courts of appeals are given final jurisdiction in
certain cases appealed to them from the district courts, such as
those arising under the patent, revenue, and criminal laws, as well
as admiralty and other cases in which the opposing parties to a
suit are an alien and a citizen, or are citizens of different
States. There is reserved to the Supreme Court the decision of
cases involving constitutionality.

The circuit courts of appeals have the final decision in nearly all
other cases involving merely the application of ordinary law.

The jurisdiction of the district courts embraces criminal cases,
admiralty cases, bankruptcy proceedings, suits for penalties, and