Another great day!

19 Oct 09—Today the weather was back to being decent…sunny and about the mid-fifties, so it wasn’t too bad going from building to building. We went to see both the US Supreme Court and the Library of Congress, with the court being our first stop. I am posting this 1st picture so you can see how big it is outside, but also because I want you to see the small, squared off column on the front, left side (there is one on the right side also) (click on it to enlarge it).

What you are seeing is the only place in the whole court area, inside or out, that has anything close to what I expected to see as “Lady Justice”…where the blind-folded lady is holding the scales of justice. They sell a replica of that lady in the gift shop, but to my surprise there isn’t an actual statue of her anywhere on the premises.

As you go up the 1st flight of stairs you come to a statue of a woman on your left, and a man on your right, both sitting down…and who are they you ask?

They are “The Contemplation of Justice” (the woman), and the “Authority of Law” (the man). I guess it should come as no surprise that the woman represents just the thinking of justice, while the man is strong and forceful in his implementation of the law (haha).

When you enter the courthouse doors, you see the courtroom right away where the justices hear arguments at the end of the long hall, and although you can’t take pictures once you are in there, they do let you take pictures from the entrance.

This building wasn’t even built until 1935, so the court members had no permanent home until then. They told us that from 1790 until 1935 the justices met 1st in New York, then in Philly, sometimes in a tavern if they couldn’t get City Hall, and then in the Capitol building across the street in DC until this was built. There are busts and portraits of all the justices throughout the building, but only one, Chief Justice John Marshall, has an actual statue…he was the 4th Chief Justice and considered to be one of the most important because he was the one that established the court as the final arbiter of what was or was not constitutional.

I was a little disappointed to learn that I just missed an opportunity to actually sit in on oral arguments that were held last week. In our briefing the guide said that the justices meet 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off starting the 1st Monday in October, for 3 days a week, until April…so this was an off week. I will have to remember this whenever we come back…that would be the ultimate!!!
From the Court we walked next door to the Library of Congress…there are actually 3 buildings that make up the Libraries, but we went to the original, the Thomas Jefferson Building, built in 1897 and THE MOST INCREDIBLE BUILDING I HAVE EVER SEEN. I honestly don’t remember being this surprised by anything I saw in Europe, including the Sistine Chapel. I thought this was pretty impressive on the outside, but the inside almost takes your breath away. I will post a few pictures, but you really have to see this to believe it. Everything here is marble, and columns, and inlaid tile mosaics and your mind is in almost complete overload as you try to take it all in. I had to sneak a picture of the actual research library that for some reason they don’t let you take pictures of. I was talking to a guy and his wife and he told me he just shut off his flash and took a bunch of pictures…that he wasn’t leaving without the pictures. I took only one and skedaddled because I was nervous…haha. They had a few exhibits there too, one on the creation of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, but really the thing to see here is the building itself…everything else pales in comparison.

This is Minerva, the Roman Goddess,..she is made up completely of inlaid tiles.

At the top of the stairs of where you see Minerva is where I snuck the picture looking down at the research library.

Again, these pictures really don't do this building any justice, but I hope you can enjoy them at least a little.