So, on to the third branch of government! We actually went to the Supreme Court on Monday, June 6, two days after we went to the White House and the Capitol Building, but since I'm not updating real-time, I can keep things grouped together differently.
Breaking news: D.C. is hot in the summer. We got to the Supreme Court at 9:00am and it was already too hot to stand in the sun comfortably. The plan was to get in line to hear rulings decided from the bench at 10:00am, which we did, but it was a very busy day and there were a lot of visitors to the Court, including a group of young lawyers getting sworn in, and there were not enough open seats to open it up to those of us same-day hopefuls. So, we didn't get to go in for that.
The Visitor's Center (the entire part of the building under the giant staircase, aka the ground floor) is open to the public during most of the day, so we went in. There are exhibits explaining the history of the Court, interspersed with explanations of the exterior and interior architecture and sculpture, and exhibits containing interesting items like John Marshall's chair.
We found out that there was a discussion / "lecture" (basically, an info session) that took place inside the courtroom itself, so we waited for that to start in order to see the actual courtroom. There were no photos allowed inside, but Loren was smart enough to take a photograph of the miniature model in the downstairs exhibit, and honestly, after being inside the real thing, I had to do a double-take looking at this photo. It's pretty much exactly how the inside looks.
Lining the walls above the columns just out of sight of that photograph are relief sculpture panels of different figures important to the history of law. The photo above is Draco and Confucius. Pretty much every square inch of the building, from the architecture outside to the relief sculptures inside the courtroom, is decorated in some symbolic way.
It was gorgeous, and you could really feel the history of that room. This is probably largely because there are never any videos permitted, or recording of any kind really, so we're not constantly inundated with media input from this particular institution - you have to see it to know it.
When the "lecture" was over, the decisions of the day were ready at the secretary's office, so we got to pick up the packets explaining each of the four rulings delivered that morning. Lots of legal language, an explanation of the case at hand, what was at stake, what was decided, and which justices voted for or against certain cases. Boring legal stuff, but exciting to be in that building as it did its job!
We ate lunch in the Court's cafeteria to save time before moving on to our scheduled tour across the street at the Library of Congress, and it was decent enough. Typical cafeteria food, it will do if you are in a pinch for time.
I'm almost through editing my photos, which is the task that makes me procrastinate so much (the blogging part is the fast and easy part), so once I'm through with that I'll really start crunching through these entries!
I leave you with a photo by Loren:
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