Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court of the United States, established with the Constitution in 1789. For its first 145 years the Court had no home of its own and sat in a chamber of the Capitol. Only Chief Justice William Howard Taft pushed through a dedicated building; Cass Gilbert delivered the Neoclassical design with a Corinthian portico, white Vermont marble and the famous inscription Equal Justice Under Law above the entrance, completed in 1935. The nine-justice bench decides constitutional questions that shape national life, from Brown v. Board of Education to Bush v. Gore. During the term from October through June visitors may attend public oral arguments or view the ground-floor permanent exhibition on the Court's history. The broad marble plaza in front of the west facade is a classic Capitol Hill stop in itself.