In the United States, courthouse art and architecture are typically designed to symbolize the foundational principles of courts in a democracy: equal justice under law, separation of powers, and transparency in adjudication, among other values. The courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Department, is a particularly rich example of this architectural and artistic heritage. When it was erected in the 1890s, nearly one third of the construction budget was allocated to artwork. The courthouse is festooned with murals, statuary, and stained glass. The murals in the lobby and the courtroom contain allegorical themes on the nature of justice, the virtues of wisdom and study, and the latent need for force to ensure compliance with the law. The roof is adorned with statues embodying these themes and depicting individual lawgivers from the past. The building, including its interior, has been landmarked by the City of New York, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

While the law in the United States has proven to be dynamic, gradually evolving to include protections for marginalized groups, the art in our courthouse has remained static, displaying aesthetics that reflect a less inclusive America. For example, the only recognizably non-White person in the murals is the Native American in the Seal of the City of New York. Justice and Wisdom, and other attributes of a well-ordered system of justice, are mostly portrayed in female forms; however, the actual lawyers and lawgivers commemorated are all male. At least one of the individuals named in the courtroom’s stained glass played a deeply retrograde role in the law of the United States: Roger Taney, the author of Dred Scott v. Sandford. The lawgiver statues atop the courthouse are also uniformly male.

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