Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the United States of America, is the head of the Judicial Branch of the Federal Government.

Quarters

Before 1935, the Supreme Court met in various spaces within the United States Capitol, with the exception of a period from 1812 to 1817 when the Court was absent from Washington due to the War of 1812. After the government moved into Washington, the court was housed in a small, basement room (see W. Rehnquist, The Supreme Court). As the Senate expanded, it progressively outgrew its quarters, and the Court twice moved in to occupy a chamber abandoned by the Senate, first in 1810 http://www.senate.gov/vtour/1.htm (a space it was to share "with several other courts, among them the United States Circuit Court and the Orphans' Court of the District of Columbia"; see Skifos), and again in 1860 http://www.senate.gov/vtour/2.htm when the Court moved to The Old Senate Chamber (as it is now known) where it remained until its move to the current Supreme Court building. In 1929, Chief Justice William Howard Taft argued for the Court to have its own building, to distance itself from Congress as an independent branch of government.

Related Topics:
United States Capitol - War of 1812 - Senate - William Howard Taft - Congress

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The Supreme Court building, located across the street from the U.S. Capitol, was designed by architect Cass Gilbert. The cornerstone was laid on October 13, 1932 and construction completed in 1935. The exterior façade of the Supreme Court building is made of marble quarried from Alabama, Vermont and Georgia, but for the courtroom itself, "Gilbert felt that only the ivory buff and golden marble from the Montarrenti quarries near Siena, Italy" would suffice. To this end, in May 1933, he petitioned the Italian premier, Benito Mussolini, "to ask his assistance in guaranteeing that the Siena quarries sent nothing inferior to the official sample marble". The front of the building bears the motto "Equal Justice Under Law."

Related Topics:
U.S. Capitol - Cass Gilbert - October 13 - 1932 - Siena, Italy - Benito Mussolini

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