Architecture of the Supreme Court Building

Chief Justice William Howard Taft liked to think of the Constitution as the “Ark of the Covenant,” and the judiciary as a priestly class guarding its sacred principles. When Taft became chairman of the Supreme Court Building Commission created by Congress in 1928, he selected his friend Cass Gilbert to design a suitably impressive edifice for the Court's first permanent home. Gilbert was a logical choice for the assignment. A leading exponent of neoclassicism in American architecture, he had been greatly influenced in his early career by the famous “White City” exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. The buildings on display there had all been imposing white structures, whose classical facades and ornamentation created a make‐believe world of antiseptic beauty. With its evocation of past imperial grandeur, the Beaux Arts version of classicism soon captured the imagination of an expansionist America and became the official style of federal buildings for the next half century.

Working within this tradition, Gilbert designed a monumental temple of justice that symbolized the power and legitimacy of the modern Court. The site—a square‐block area on East Capitol Street across from the Capitol grounds—largely determined the size of the new building, since it had to balance the other massive buildings of the Capitol group, including the adjacent Library of Congress. On this site Gilbert proposed to erect a majestic structure of white marble, consisting of a tall, navelike central section flanked by two low symmetrical wings. The center contained the courtroom; and, with its great columned hall and ornate portico, resembled the Greek Parthenon, which Gilbert used as his model. To enhance a visitor's sense of solemnity, the architect set the building far back on the lot, leaving room in front for a spacious marble plaza and a grand stairway of fifty‐three steps leading up to the central entrance doors (see figure 1

The effect is undeniably impressive, and intimidating as well. Two huge marble blocks flank the stairway, and support large sculptures by James E. Fraser. On the right a seated male figure representing the “Authority of Law” holds a tablet inscribed “Lex” in his left hand, while a sheathed sword at his side indicates the availability of government force to execute the laws. The corresponding sculpture on the left is titled “Contemplation of Justice,” and features a classically draped female figure who embodies the spirit of equity, as opposed to strict law. In her right hand she holds a small statue of “Justice” balancing the scales, while a lawbook rests near her left hand. Like guardian sculptures outside some ancient tomb, Fraser's giant creations evoke the feelings of apprehension and awe that laymen tend to associate with the expounders of black‐letter law.

At the top of the steps a double row of Corinthian columns supports a triangular pediment designed by Robert Aitken. Aitken's frieze combines allegorical symbols and figures from American history to celebrate the concept of ordered liberty; or, as the legend immediately below the group panel proclaims, “Equal Justice Under Law.” In the center the Goddess of Liberty sits enthroned, with the scales of justice on her lap; on either side a Roman soldier, representing “Order” and “Authority,” respectively, strikes a protective pose. Two other figures on each side represent “Council,” while a recumbent figure, “Research,” fills out each end of the triangle. The toga‐clad councillors on the right bear a marked resemblance to Charles Evans Hughes, who succeeded Taft as chief justice in 1930, and Aitken himself; those on the left are likenesses of Cass Gilbert and the lawyer‐statesman Elihu Root. For his Research figures Aitken chose to portray John Marshall and William Howard Taft as young students.

The complementary pediment on the east side of the building bears an inscription devised by Chief Justice Hughes: “Justice, the Guardian of Liberty.” In his frieze sculptor Herman A. MacNeil pays tribute to the civilizing effects of legal authority. A trio of ancient lawgivers—Moses, flanked by Confucius and Solon—occupies the center of the panel, which otherwise features allegorical figures intended to symbolize beneficent aspects of judicial dispute resolution.

Inside the building the appeal to tradition and authority intensifies. Beyond the massive bronze entrance doors, which slide into a wall recess during the hours when the building is open to the public, monolithic columns of white marble support the coffered ceiling of the Great Hall. This spacious corridor, which serves as a foyer for the courtroom at its farther end, displays busts of all the Court's deceased chief justices, either in wall niches or on alternating pedestals. Like the columns, the floor, and the walls, the busts are of white marble, and help to establish a mood of reverence as one approaches the red‐curtained doorway of the courtroom.

Substantially larger than its predecessors in the Capitol, the Court Chamber provides seating for about three hundred persons. The elevated justices' bench along the east wall dominates the room. It was traditional in design until 1972, when the Court approved its conversion into a “winged” or semihexagonal shape, to facilitate communication between the justices during oral arguments (see figures 2a and 2b).



Behind the bench a row of marble columns and a backdrop of heavy red curtains add a touch of real dignity, while Adolph Weinman's friezes along the upper walls remind spectators of the necessity and grandeur of legal authority. Pursuant to Gilbert's design, the justices enter the courtroom through a private corridor, parting the curtains dramatically to take their seats as each session begins.

The rest of the main floor contains the justices' chambers, auxiliary offices, and conference and robing rooms. While the Court met in the Capitol, the justices had no private offices because of a shortage of available space. Gilbert was careful to remedy this deficiency by providing each justice with a suite of three rooms—one for personal use, and the others to accommodate law clerks and secretaries. Anticipating that a justice might wish to destroy documents unobtrusively on occasion, he also furnished each jurist's private chamber with a working fireplace. The scale of the building left ample room for the expansion of office space, and retired justices sometimes continue to occupy their chambers.

Throughout their workday the justices remain screened from contact with the public. In the crowded Capitol they once had to put on their robes in full view of the courtroom audience; and when they secured an adequate robing room, they still had to parade across a corridor sometimes filled with sightseers in order to reach the courtroom. Taft considered such exposure detrimental to judicial dignity; and Gilbert accordingly devised physical arrangements to safeguard the Court's privacy. The justices thus park their cars in the basement of the building and take a private elevator up to a corridor on the main floor that is closed to the public. The corridor in turn gives access to all judicial chambers, as well as a conference room, a robing room, and the courtroom. The justices may similarly ascend to a private dining room and library reading room on the second floor. Such elaborate security contributes to a mystique of the Court as a group of detached sages who are impervious to popular pressures.

The Court's main library occupies the entire third floor. Its handsome, oak‐paneled reading room offers exceptional research facilities for the justices' clerks, members of the Supreme Court bar, members of Congress, and lawyers representing federal agencies. Taft had been particularly concerned about the absence of adequate storage space in the Capitol for the Court's accumulating records and archives. Gilbert therefore made generous provision for records rooms, with temperature and humidity controls to ensure the preservation of historic documents. At Taft's suggestion, he also set aside two rooms on the ground floor for the use of the press (see Press Room).

Gilbert's architectural sketches were approved by the Supreme Court Building Commission in 1929, and Congress appropriated $9,740,000 for construction purposes. Eventually the Commission returned $93,532.03 of unused funds. Construction did not begin in earnest until 1931, and the building finally opened its doors to the public on Monday, 7 October 1935.

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See also Buildings, Supreme Court; Sculpture in the Supreme Court Building

Bibliography

• Lois Craig and the Staff of the Federal Architecture Project, The Federal Presence: Architecture, Politics, and Symbols in United States Government Building (1977).
• Alpheus Thomas Mason, William Howard Taft: Chief Justice (1965).
• Catherine Hetos Skefos, The Supreme Court Gets a Home, Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook (1976): 25–36

— Maxwell Bloomfield