As you know, the Supreme Court Justices have had their current building only since 1935.
This leads to a gripping question: Where were those guys for the first 146 years!? π€
What do you say we take a little road trip together to find out? π Iβll drive . . .
(βοΈπ§΅)
First stop β New York City! π
The Supreme Court was born in 1789 (thanks to the Judiciary Act of that year) and lived, ever so briefly, in the Royal Exchange Building right here. π
(It wasn't the fanciest of beginnings - the Royal Exchange was a covered marketplace . . . )
Bonus Fun Fact: Before the Court convened, the federal court for the District of New York sat in the building on Nov. 3, 1789 β making it the 1st federal court to sit under the new Constitution!π₯
Their first business? Admitting lawyers to the bar, including Aaron Burr (Sir).βοΈ
So when did the Supreme Court have its 1st session? Feb. 2 - 10, in 1790. π
But honestly, it was a little awkward . . . city officials had to move the marketβs butchers (π) and rope off the street so that the Court would be spared the βinterruption from the noise of carts.βπ
Next stop: Philadelphia!π
And actually, weβve got 2 places to visit here. First up is Independence Hall. When the National Capitol moved to Philly in 1790, the Court moved, too! (So long, noisy carts! π)
Its chambers were first in the State House (aka Independence Hall).π
But the Justices didnβt get too cozy there!
The Court moved over to the Old City Hall at 5th & Chestnut Streets in 1791 (π), and there it remained until 1800, when the Federal Government up and moved to DC . . .
(Iβm telling you, the Supreme Court has been around the block!)
Final stop: DC! π¦
So the Fed. Govt moved to DC in 1800 and Congress got its fancy new Capitol Building, but the Justices didnβt have a proper home because . . . *no provision had been made for a Supreme Court building.*
(Way to treat them like the middle child, Congress.) π’
So Congress *lent* the Court space in its new building but those poor Justices ended up changing their meeting place 6 times while there . . . and that doesnβt count when they had to convene in a private π‘ after the British set π₯ to the Capitol during the War of 1812!
Highlights from the time our Justices were peripatetic?
With a few exceptions (recall the whole βWar of 1812β episode), they were housed in what is today called the βOld Supreme Court Chamberβ from 1810 to 1860.
(It has a vaulted ceiling that has been likened to a πβ see π)
Next up, after the Senate outgrew its quarters, the Court was given its old space in 1860. (Yep, the Supreme Court got hand-me-down chambers.π)
Referred to today as the "Old Senate Chamber," Charles Evans Hughes called it βsmall, overheated & barren.βπ‘
(Judge for yourselfπ)
So how did the Justices finally get a Court of their own?
After Taft became Chief Justice in 1921, he lobbied for the Court to have its own space β physically distanced from Congress β as an independent branch of government.
(We all have to leave the nest some time. π¦)
In 1929, the government purchased the Old Brick Capitol (π) β which was the temporary Capitol of the United States from 1815 to 1819.
That building was then razed to make space for a new building for the Court β one designed by Cass Gilbert (noted architect & friend of Taft).
There is much to be said about the Temple of Justice that was ultimately built. To start, not everyone was a fan. (Justice Stone complained it was "almost bombastically pretentious...Wholly inappropriate for a quiet group of old boys.")π§
But weβll save that for another day...
For tonight, I hope the next time you think of One First Street, you'll recall that it wasnβt the first home of the Court - indeed, that our Justices have inhabited other spaces for far longer than their current π .
And for a little sibling, it did alright in the end . . .
fin
(P.S. Thanks for the road trip. Hope you enjoy our scrapbook π.
Did you know that law schools didn't used to award the J.D. (Juris Doctor) but instead a degree called the LL.B.?
That's short for "Legum Baccalaureus," which is the fancy Latin designation for Bachelor of Laws.
And I promise, its history is delightful . . .
(βοΈππ§΅)
But first, you may be wondering β why would "Legum Baccalaureus" be shortened to LL.B. and not L.B.?
β I love this β
This is the reduplicative form of the plural at work, where we form the plural by doubling the initial letter β it's why the abbreviation for Justices is "JJ."
Now, the LL.B. was the standard degree from American law schools because most required only that their students be high school graduates.
Things began to change in the early part of the 20th Century.
In 1903, @UChicago offered the J.D. to law students who had undergrad degrees.
Here stands Ivy Williams β the very first woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales (a feat that occurred 100 years ago).
And here's how it happened and what she did next in law . . .
(a petite βοΈπ§΅)
The daughter of a solicitor, Ivy studied jurisprudence at Oxford, completing her exams for a BA in 1900 and a BCL in 1902. π
But because she was a woman, she could not practice law.
Thankfully that changed with the passage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 . . .
In 1922, Ivy was called to the Bar.
According to the @nytimes, "The jollities" β jollities! β "which mark 'call' night ... were touched with historical significance tonight when a woman ... was for the first time called to the English bar."
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. has just visited the estate of Doneraile Court in Ireland.
There he encountered Emily Ursula Clare Saint Leger β also known as Lady Castletown.
He is completely besotted.
Holmes takes pen to paper β "My dear lady . . ."
(β€οΈβπ₯βοΈπ§΅)
But wait β we are getting ahead of ourselves. First, we must set the scene . . .
This country pile is Doneraile Court β the home of Baron Castletown & his wife, Lady Castletown. π°
Theirs was not exactly a love match. (They each had their own paramours, if you must know.)
How does Oliver configure in all of this?
Then a Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ποΈ, he spent part of the summer visiting the British Isles. (His wife, Fanny, who has been described as a "recluse," decided against the journey.)
50 years ago, the Supreme Court recognized the right of all people β married and single alike β to purchase and use contraception.
The case in which they did so? Eisenstadt v. Baird.
And how did that case come about? It began with this electric moment right here . . .
(βοΈπ§΅)
But before we get there, we're going to need a little history . . .
So back in the day (in 1873 to be precise), Congress passed the Comstock Act (known for its champion, Anthony Comstock β¬οΈ) outlawing the distribution of βobsceneβ materials, including contraception . . . yeah.
Soon after, many states enacted their own anti-contraceptive laws.
Among them was Massachusetts. In 1879 the state passed "An Act Concerning Offenses against Chastity, Morality, and Decency" which made it a crime to give away items "for the prevention of conception" . . . yeah.