supremely awesome

As you may or may not know, I get Fridays off, so on my free Friday, I visited the Supreme Court today!

I don't look that small compared to the court, but I felt really small

It is seriously a beautiful building, but it was constructed in just 1935, although the Supreme Court was around for 146 years before that. (In its way early days, it used to convene in Independence Hall/City Hall in Philly :P) The marble is SUPER white and reflects mad sunlight to the point where I was blinded when I walked out of the building at the end of my tour. I really liked what (I think it was) Chief Justice Roberts said in the little C-SPAN-created visitors' video, how the building looks so grand and majestic as if to remind the justices what an important duty they have to the U.S.

The motto of "Equal Justice Under Law" is written majestically across the front of the building - it looks like super legit when you see it written in marble LOL That's what I like about the judicial branch of the U.S. - it's not quite as wrapped up in partisanship and moneys as much as the other two branches are. Of course, you can argue that there's definitely more "liberal" courts vs. more "conservative" courts, that the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was in favor of perpetuating corrupted, money-driven campaigning politics, but in general, I admire that it always gets down to what the law of the land says.

The view of the Capitol from the top of the steps of the Supreme Court.

For some reason, I don't know if I'd be able to join Congress, like as a Senator or a Rep, just because right now, I don't have a strong political leaning towards either party. And, I'd have to engage in multiple "popularity contests" in order to even get recognized in a certain state and win over constituents...I was never good at that in high school...sighs.

It was rather chilly in this hallway leading to the Courtroom entrance, haha, but I just kept wondering what it would be like to walk around in this building day in and day out, wearing long black robes and whatnot. It would be AWESOME.

They didn't let us take pictures inside the Courtroom, so this was the closest photo I got - the Chief Justice sits directly underneath that clock in the background, with the rest being filled by seniority on the court. Solicitor General/SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan would sit on the last chair on the far right, which you see right next to the big obstructive pillar on the right.

One thing I realized was that since you have to serve on the Supreme Court for LIFE (or at least until you retire when difficult circumstances arise or when you're just super duper old, like retired Justice Stevens, who's like 90 I believe), it makes sense to join when you're not that young. Granted, you have to get nominated first, and before you get nominated, you should probably show a lot of rigor and wisdom and talent etc etc etc, which requires a lot of life experiences, so it's not like you could just breeze into becoming a justice, but still...it'd take up more than half your life if you got nominated super early, so if you did have a choice...

To my GREAT delight, I saw a LOT of turtle memorabilia in the gift shop! And although I did not purchase any, (I got a super cool pencil instead - I have a picture on my phone haha), it still made me happy to see little turtles everywhere. I came home and I googled why turtles are important to SCOTUS, and it turns out that it's because turtles represent longevity (life terms) and the slow yet deliberate pace of justice, so the architect chose to include them in his designs. I always thought that my love for turtles stemmed from my slow pace of eating or something, but I guess now I know that it links to a passion & appreciation for justice! Good deals.

Anyways, even though I spent a mere 2 hours touring (since I had other errands to run and things to get done), it was a very well-spent 2 hours and I REALLY would love to come hear an oral argument in the future (they're out of session right now; they start up again on the first Monday of October, which this year, is the 75th anniversary of the building!) So...perhaps I will make a field trip sometime during this academic year? Who wants to come with? :)