Equal justice under law: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:35, 8 June 2007

Revision as of 02:37, 8 June 2007

Line 1:

[[Image:Equal.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|The front of the Supreme Court Building, also called the West Pediment.]]

'''Equal Justice Under Law''' is a phrase engraved on the front of the [[United_States_Supreme_Court_building|United States Supreme Court Building]] in [[Washington D.C.]] This phrase was apparently first written in 1932 by the architectural firm that designed the U.S. Supreme Court building. Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]] subsequently approved this inscription, as did the United States Supreme Court Building Commission which Hughes chaired.<ref>[http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/westpediment.pdf West Pediment Information Sheet] via U.S. Supreme Court web site.</ref> The architectural firm that authored the phrase was headed by [[Cass Gilbert]].<ref>McGurn, Barrett. [http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c17_l.html "Slogans to Fit the Occasion"] ''Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook'' (1982).</ref>

The words "Equal Justice Under Law" apparently paraphrase an expression coined by Chief Justice [[Melville Fuller]].<ref>Peccarelli, Anthony. [http://www.dcba.org/brief/marissue/2000/art10300.htm "The Meaning of Justice"], ''DuPage County Bar Association Brief'' (March 2000).</ref> In the case of ''Caldwell v. Texas'' in 1891, Fuller wrote about the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]]: