View allAll Photos Tagged SupremeCourt
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan hold a conversation during a press and public photo session following her Investiture Ceremony.
Today was the end of term of the Supreme Court, with reporters outside the Court analyzing the results of the final three cases.
Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito walk down the front steps of the US Supreme Court. Image was used on cover of Atlantic Monthly, June, 2006.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan share a quick laugh before descending the steps in front of the Supreme Court for photos.
Protesters at the Supreme Court in Washington DC following the court's monumental draft leak and subsequent official opinion, overturning Roe v. Wade
Chief Justice John Roberts and new Associate Justice Elena Kagan chat in front of the doors of Supreme Court just after Kagan's formal investiture ceremony in the Court.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan stand tall and pose for pictures in front of Supreme Court steps following her Investiture Ceremony.
The Supreme Court of Singapore. For more photographs, see commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Supreme_Court_of_Sing....
In response to the US Supreme Court siding with Walmart in a gender discrimination suit against the global chain, rallies were held across the country June 21, 2011. These young women in Washington, D.C. staged their rally in front of the court.
The Supreme Court of Singapore. For more photographs, see commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Supreme_Court_of_Sing....
The Supreme Court of Singapore. For more photographs, see commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Supreme_Court_of_Sing....
Chief Justice John Roberts escorts new Associate Justice Elena Kagan down the stairs of the Supreme Court, as the Chief Justice customarily does after an Associate Justice's investiture ceremony.
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012
Chief Justice John Roberts and new Associate Justice Elena Kagan chat in front of the Supreme Court just after Kagan's formal investiture ceremony in the Court.
#Brexit, #BritainSupremeCourt, #DeirTozettiDosSantos, #GinaMiller, #SupremeCourt Click here viralterm.com/brexit-case-britains-supreme-court
The Supreme Court of Singapore. For more photographs, see commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Supreme_Court_of_Sing....
The Supreme Court of Singapore. For more photographs, see commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Supreme_Court_of_Sing....
The Supreme Court of Singapore. For more photographs, see commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Supreme_Court_of_Sing....
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012
Nine U.S. Supreme Justices lined up as former Chief Justice Warren Burger's coffin arrives at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. You can see the justices lined up at the top of the stairs.
The Supreme Court Justices pictured:
Chief Justice William Rehnquist
Justice John Paul Stevens
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Justice Antonin Scalia
Justice Anthony Kennedy
Justice David Souter
Justice Clarence Thomas
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Justice Stephen Breyer
March 1, 2013
Penn President Amy Gutmann moderated a conversation at the National Constitution Center with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and the third woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, gave a candid, intimate look at her remarkable life as described in her new memoir, My Beloved World. She recounted her journey from a Bronx housing project to Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney’s office, and the Federal District Court, all before the age of 40—followed by her appointment to the nation’s highest court. Dr. Gutmann is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center.
---
Copyright reserved by National Constitution Center
No photography allowed in the courtroom, but you can photograph from outside the courtroom (at times, anyway). Here a visitor group is attending a lecture on the history and role of the Supreme Court.
Marble busts of the earliest chief justices have been returned to their original locations in the room. In order of service, those represented are: John Jay (1789-1795), John Rutledge (1795), Oliver Ellsworth (1796-1800), and John Marshall (1801-1835).
Gallery Wall Clock
•Clock, Gallery Wall
•by Simon Willard
•Mahogany dial, gilded frame, metal, paint, 1837
•Overall measurement
oHeight: 51 inches (129.54 cm)
oWidth: 37 inches (93.98 cm)
oDepth: 5 inches (12.7 cm)
•Inscription (etched on the exterior of the brass movement): Made by Simon / Willard in his 85th / year 1837 / Roxbury July / the 4 [?]; and (engraved on the brass pendulum face) MADE BY / SIMON WILLARD, / in the 85th year of his age. / BOSTON, JULY, 1837.
•Cat. no. 54.00002.000
This clock is located in the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Senate wing of the Capitol.
Preserving Punctuality: The Old Supreme Court Clock
On the morning of March 31, 2009, time stopped in the Old Supreme Court Chamber. The minute hand of the 1837 Simon Willard gallery clock was found lying on the mantel below the clock, broken in two pieces where an old repair had given way. Fortunately, plans for conservation treatment of the clock were underway in the Office of Senate Curator, because a condition assessment of the Senate’s historic clocks done the previous year indicated its movement was in urgent need of repair. A conservator was quickly enlisted to conserve the clock.
The conservator arrived at the Senate on May 29 to remove the clock’s movement and transport it to his workshop in Massachusetts. First, he carefully removed the clock’s dial, revealing the beautifully made brass movement. The gallery or banjo style of clock was invented by Simon Willard in the late 18th century as an alternative to the tall case (or grandfather) style of clock. His ingenious design made it possible for the weight and other clock parts to fit within a 24-inch diameter space and still run for eight days between windings.
After the conservation work was completed and the minute hand was repaired, the clock was reassembled in the Old Supreme Court. During its six-week absence, the Curator’s Office received many inquiries about why the clock was gone. The level of interest expressed inspired the Curator to revisit the clock’s history and search for evidence to verify some of the popular stories told in the Capitol about Simon Willard’s gallery clock.
The clock currently hangs above the fireplace in the Old Supreme Court Chamber. Over the years it has moved location several times, but it has always maintained its association with the Supreme Court. When the clock was delivered in 1837, it was placed in the Supreme Court Chamber in Capitol (S-141). In 1860 the Supreme Court moved upstairs to the present-day Old Senate Chamber, and the timepiece was transferred to the Clerk of the Court’s Office, now part of the Republican Leader’s Suite. In 1935, when construction on the Supreme Court building was complete, the Willard clock traveled across the street and was placed in the Clerk’s file room. The restoration of the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol during the 1970s brought the clock back to its original location in S-141.
Today, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney is credited with requesting the Simon Willard clock; however, early reports state that Justice Joseph Story was responsible for the order. An 1888 article from Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly entitled “The United States Supreme Court and the New Chief Justice” highlights Justice Story’s frustrations with “laggard” justices and states his response to this problem: “I’ll fix this,’ said Mr. Justice Story, ‘and we’ll get a clock that we can all go by.’” The article continues: “Mr. Story was one of the prompt ones. And he had this clock made.” Other early 20th-century articles credit Justice Story with the purchase of the clock, but a 1935 article from The Evening Star Washington attributes, for the first time, the ordering of the clock to Chief Justice Taney. The article refers to the timepiece as the “Old Taney Clock” and ascribes frustrations to Taney, not Story. Justice Story served on the bench from 1812 until his death in 1845, and Chief Justice Taney held his position from 1836 to 1864. The clock was ordered in 1836, so the dates of service of both justices make it possible that either could have been responsible for requesting the clock.
Modern accounts also credit Chief Justice Taney with having the clock set five minutes fast to improve the timeliness of the associate justices. Today the clock is still set five minutes ahead in honor of this practice. However, historical accounts describe the clock’s timekeeping as either one or two minutes ahead of the hour and attribute the desire to improve punctuality to either Justice Stephen Field or Justice Story. The 1935 Evening Star Washington article recalls that the clock was set two minutes ahead to ensure that the justices arrived at the bench in timely fashion. Another article, “Centenary of a Clock,” from a 1937 issue of the New York Times Magazine, states: “Long ago it hung in the robing room of the justices and there was a change made in the mechanism—tradition says by Justice Stephen J. Field. Since then it has struck its one note at exactly one minute before the hour of twelve, thus warning the black-gowned justices to be ready and waiting to ascend the bench precisely at noon.”
Although we have no primary sources (such as an invoice for work to adjust the clock mechanism or a firsthand account of setting the clock fast) to verify the truthfulness of these claims, the articles lead one to reasonably assume that the clock was set ahead at a calculated increment during its time in the Capitol. The report written by the conservator after he completed treatment of the gallery clock interprets its history on the basis of physical evidence preserved on its parts. While reassembling the clock, he mentioned that the movement is aligned so that it strikes one minute before the hour, rather than right on the hour. If you are watching when the clock is about to strike, you can see this for yourself. Perhaps there is something to the 1937 story, and over the years the one-minute change has grown to five. The Curator’s Office continues to search for historical evidence to help interpret this exquisite artifact that is an integral part of our nation’s history. With proper care and conservation, the Willard clock will continue to be a valued centerpiece in the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the U.S. Capitol.
Justice
•Justice
•by Carlo Franzoni (1788-1819)
•Plaster, 1817
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 53.25 inches (135.3 cm)
oWidth: 127.25 inches (323.2 cm)
•Unsigned
•Cat. no. 25.00001.000
After the British burned the U.S. Capitol on August 24, 1814, architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe immediately oversaw reconstruction efforts. As part of this project, he engaged Italian sculptor Carlo Franzoni to create the only piece of permanent decoration in the new Supreme Court Chamber: a relief sculpture of Justice. The piece was to be mounted directly opposite the bench and the seats of the justices.
Two preliminary sketches exist for the figure of Justice, but it is unknown whether they date from before or after the damage to the building by the British. The sketches depict some of the same iconographic details seen in the Justice relief, although the final figure and composition are different. The drawings appear to be by either Giuseppe or Carlo Franzoni. Giuseppe, Carlo’s older brother, had actually been engaged by Latrobe to model Justice for the pre-fire Capitol in 1809. It is not known if Giuseppe Franzoni’s Justice was ever completed, because that version of the Supreme Court Chamber, along with the Senate and House Chambers, was destroyed. Giuseppe Franzoni died suddenly in 1815; the following year, Carlo arrived from Italy to work on the Capitol.
Carlo Franzoni apparently began executing the relief of Justice shortly after his arrival, because payments were made to various models, beginning in 1816, for sitting for the sculpture. Mary Ann Warren and Eliza Wade each received a payment of $25, while Prince Williams received $10 “for my boy Henry sitting 10 times for Mr. Franzoni.” It is unknown why Franzoni used three models, as only the figures of Justice and the Genius appear in the final composition. The plaster frieze was completed in 1817 and placed in a semicircular lunette on the west wall of the Supreme Court. The work has yet to be restored to its original appearance, although a preliminary physical investigation indicates the early presence of jade green and royal blue paint instead of the current azure background coloring.
Franzoni also produced the brilliantly imaginative and successful Car of History for the House of Representatives. The deserved fame of this work and its much more prominent location have unfortunately diminished the reputation of Justice. Charles E. Fairman, curator of the Capitol in the early 20th century, even insinuated that the relief might not be by Franzoni. A comparison of the distinctive and confident modeling of the drapery in the two works, however, leaves little doubt that one artist is responsible for both. Carlo Franzoni died unexpectedly at the age of 30 on May 12, 1819, only three years after arriving in the United States. His remains, and those of his brother Giuseppe, are interred in Oak Hill Cemetery, in Washington, D.C.
More on Justice
One of the oldest works of art in the Capitol is the plaster relief Justice by Italian artist Carlo Franzoni. This allegorical group, located in the Old Supreme Court Chamber, is dominated by the figure of Justice dressed in classical attire, with scales upraised in her left hand and her right hand resting on an unsheathed sword. The sculpture displays Franzoni’s thorough understanding of visual iconography and personification. Justice is the leader among the “cardinal” virtues (the others are Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance), because she regulates the actions of citizens individually and in society. In Franzoni’s relief, as is customary, she holds scales—signifying impartiality—and a sword, emblematic of her power.
The absence of a blindfold, which has become a ubiquitous element in western portrayals of Justice, makes this depiction distinctive. As early as the 16th century, Justice was portrayed blindfolded to reflect impartiality. In his 1789 treatise Iconology, George Richardson defined the meaning of this symbolism: “The white robes and bandage over her eyes, allude to incorrupt justice, disregarding every interested view, by distributing of justice with rectitude and purity of mind, and protecting the innocent.” [1] Why Franzoni chose an unconventional approach is unknown. One American writer in the late 19th century, in discussing another unblindfolded image of Justice in the Capitol, surmised “that with us justice is clear-sighted respecting the rights of all.” [2]
Franzoni’s relief features two birds. The first is an owl, a principal attribute of the Roman goddess Minerva, signifying wisdom. (As a war goddess, Minerva was the defender of just causes.) In Renaissance art, the owl is often perched on a stack of books to symbolize learning. But here, the owl is carved on the front leg of Justice’s chair while, instead, an American eagle perches on law books. The eagle’s head turns back toward Justice, whose head turns toward a nude, winged Genius. The guardian spirit of the new nation, the Genius holds and points to a tablet inscribed “The Constitution of the U.S.” Behind the Genius’s head is a sunburst, symbolizing Truth, whose light reveals all.
1.Vivien Green Fryd, Art and Empire: The Politics of Ethnicity in the United States Capitol, 1815-1860 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992), 179.
2.Ibid., 180.
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012
Demonstrations at Supreme Court during arguments for and against Obamacare
Washington, DC
March 2012