A question for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan

"Good morning, Solicitor General Kagan. Before we begin this hearing's inquiry into your substantive judicial views, I'd like to begin with another important question. It's about the genuine power of meaningful symbolism.

"Eight days ago, the front doors of architect Cass Gilbert's magnificent 1935 Supreme Court building were shut, deemed a danger to security. Entry by the public up the grand staircase is no longer allowed; instead, we are shuttled around through a back door.

"Gilbert chose a classical Corinthian architectural style for the building, to represent democratic foundations, and his majestic entry on the western facade directly faces Congress. 'The Republic endures and this is the symbol of its faith,' Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes said when the building's cornerstone was laid nearly 78 years ago, recognizing the force of equal justice for all in the national balance of power.The entry's 6 1/2-ton bronze doors, sculpted by John Donnelly Jr., feature scenes from legal history, beginning with a trial shown on Achilles' shield as described in Homer's Iliad.

" 'Writers and artists regularly use the steps to represent the ideal that anyone in this country may obtain meaningful justice through application to this Court,' wrote Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a joint statement objecting to the front doors' recent closure. 'In short, time has proven the success of Gilbert's vision: To many members of the public, this court's main entrance and front steps are not only a means to, but also a metaphor for, access to the court itself.'

"That important metaphor, crafted by architects and artists and used by Americans for generations, is now in shambles. In its place is an image of fear.

"So, my question to you Gen. Kagan is this: Do you support reopening the front doors of the United States Supreme Court to the people?"

-- Christopher Knight (follow me on Twitter @KnightLAT)

Photo: The western facade of the United States Supreme Court. Credit: Franz Jantzen

Comments

[Donald Frazell]

I am sure she is checking out this blog, sheesh.
But on the off chance, 1/1,000,000,000 she is, my wife wants to interview you, and Justice Sotomayor for her magazine, soluvmagazine.com for ambitious young women who dont want to end up shallow and useless, like so many artistes.

I hope you will focus on issues that impact large populations of Americans, not the few thousand artistes and their careers out there.
See you across from Canter's CK. It is Judgment time. And WE have been found lacking. The latest Gilded Age of Meism and Excess is over, and art needs to get back to its sole function, defining who WE are, exploring nature, and reaching for god. And in this case, you are right CK. Good job. I knew you could do it.

art collegia delenda est

[ASKlein]

Doubtful. Her liberal ideologies don't include the lessening of executive power and, by extension, the excesses of anti-terror practices.