The All Writs Act is a United States federal statute, codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1651, which authorizes the United States federal courts to "issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law." The act in its original form was part of the Judiciary Act of 1789. The current form of the act was first passed in 1911 and the act has been amended several times since then, but it has not changed significantly in substance since 1789.