The Supreme Court dominates the news these days, thanks to the upcoming vote on the Brett Kavanaugh nomination. If approved, he’ll join the other justices serving in the marble building across the street from the Capitol.
The high court has sat at that location for 83 years. Before that it met in a market, a city hall, private homes and taverns, various congressional hand-me-downs, and even a famous landmark.
This is the story of the Supreme Court’s long journey to a home of its own.
The Founding Fathers intended the Supreme Court to be an equal member in the three branches of the federal government. But when it came to quarters for the court to meet, it got a bum deal in the country’s early days.
A large crowd was on hand for the court’s first day in session in February 1790. New York City’s Royal Exchange was a popular marketplace where people bought and sold things. It was so loud that city officials stretched chains across the street to prevent the court from having to talk over noisy cart vendors outside. (It was all for naught; only three of the six justices showed up, so they adjourned until the next day.)
The Supreme Court moved with the rest of the federal government the next year to Philadelphia, the new capital. It sat for two days in Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence had been signed 15 years earlier. With no cases to hear, that term only lasted two days. The fall term convened in the east wing of Philly’s Old City Hall, which was a busy place since Congress was meeting in the west wing.
When the capital was moved to the newly-created District of Columbia in 1800, it seems nobody bothered to consider where the Supreme Court would meet. Just two weeks before it was scheduled to go into session, Congress approved them to use a room inside the North Wing of the brand new, very small U.S. Capitol building.
The Supreme Court bounced around from room to room there for the next 135 years. In 1810, a new Senate chamber was built on top of the old one and the dingy, windowless quarters were given to the Supreme Court.
That worked well enough until 1814, when the British burned the Capitol building during the War of 1812. The high court, like the rest of the government, scrambled to find host venues. People sometimes opened their homes, and the justices sat in taverns.
When Congress returned to Capitol Hill in 1819 the Supreme Court came back, too. And when the Senate moved into yet another new chamber in 1859, the Supreme Court again got the old one. It met there for 75 years, with the Supreme Court and Congress sharing the old digs downstairs as a joint library.
As the country grew, so did the Supreme Court’s workload. The Capitol building was overflowing and people grew testy. Besides, justices fumed, the executive and legislative branches had their own buildings; why didn’t the judiciary? Working under the same roof with Congress felt like newlyweds living with their in-laws.
It took a former chief executive to make things happen.
William Howard Taft served one unhappy term as president in the early 20th century. But he jumped for joy when he was appointed chief justice (the job he’d always wanted) in 1921. Taft had been suggesting the Supreme Court get its own home since 1912. Now, as the only person to ever serve as both president and chief justice, his lobbying carried more weight. In 1925, Congress at long last ponied up $9.7 million (about $136 million today) for a Supreme Court Building.
Taft was enthusiastically involved in every stage. He helped pick the architect, reviewed and approved the design, and was eagerly looking forward to seeing the finished structure.
But it wasn’t to be. Taft’s health failed and he resigned as chief justice on Feb. 3, 1930. He died 33 days later.
Taft wasn’t there when the Supreme Court began its first session in its permanent home on Oct. 7, 1935. It has met there ever since.
One final note: The building was completed $94,000 under budget, making it one of the few times Washington ever produced something of lasting value and saved taxpayer dollars at the same time.
Some things are worth the wait.
J. Mark Powell (@JMarkPowell) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a former broadcast journalist and government communicator. His weekly offbeat look at our forgotten past, “Holy Cow! History,” can be read at jmarkpowell.com.
