Today’s #stampoftheday travels to four important and very timely ethereal places (in contrast to yesterday’s stamp, which went to four distinct and important parts of the United States). A 3-cent stamp issued on August 24, 1953 that marked the 75th anniversary of the American Bar Association, it shows four figures—representing Wisdom, Justice, Divine Inspiration, and Truth – that are part of a frieze on the west wall of the U.S. Supreme Court’s main chamber. Those figures, not the American Bar Association, are what particularly interests me about the stamp.

The friezes were sculpted by Adolph A. Weinman, a noted Beaux-Arts artist who was given great license by the building’s architect, who selected him for the job. Weinman – who also made the sculptures that were in New York City’s famed Pennsylvania Railroad station and several other buildings designed by McKim, Mead and White (as well as providing the designs for used for the Mercury dime and the Walking Liberty half-dollar coin—believed a sculpture’s subject matter should correlate with the function of the building in which it was to be placed.

Weinman created four 40-foot long marble friezes for the Supreme Court building, which opened in 1935. Those on the courtroom’s east and west walls portray allegorical representations of law. Those on the north and south walls feature 18 “Great Lawgivers of History” (all of them men).

The west wall frieze partially shown on the stamp is an allegorical representation of “Good Versus Evil.” The central female figures – in both the frieze and the stamp—are Justice, who is portrayed leaning on a sheathed sword representing her might, and Divine Inspiration, who is holding out the Scales of Justice. Wisdom, which is to the left of Justice on the stamp, is portrayed as a man sitting with an owl, which is a little odd because in Greek mythology the owl was closely associated with Athena the goddess of wisdom. (In fact, legend has it that the owl sat on Athena’s “blind side” so she could see the whole truth.) Truth, who sits to the right of Divine Inspiration, is shown holding a mirror and a rose. The stamp doesn’t show the rest of the frieze, which includes, on one side, the Powers of Good: (Defense of Virtue, Charity, Peace, Harmony, and Security) and, on the other side, the Powers of Evil (Vice and Crime, Corruption, Slander, Deception, and Despotic Power). Justice, by the way, seems to be staring down the Powers of Evil.

The center of the east wall frieze, which is located directly above the Bench, features two male figures that represent the Majesty of Law and the Power of Government. There is a table between them that symbolizes the Bill of Rights. The allegorical figures standing on either side of the central figures symbolize Wisdom (on the left) and Justice (on the right). Beyond them are two sets of figures. One, on the right, represents the Safeguard of the Liberties and Rights of the People in their pursuit of Happiness. The other, on the left represents the Defense of Human Rights and Protection of Innocence.

The North and South Walls feature 18 Great Lawgivers of History: Menes, Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Lycurgus, Solon, Draco, Confucius, Octavian (aka Augustus) Justinian, Muhammad, Charlemagne, King John of England, Louis IX, Hugo Grotius, Sir William Blackstone, John Marshall and Napoleon. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t recognize about three-quarters of these men and I don’t know what half of those I did recognize did to merit their inclusion as one of the 18 great lawgivers of history (as of 1935). I knew, for example, that Charlemagne united Europe but I had no idea what he did on the legal front.

At some point after I post this, I’ll make a separate post with a little info on the “Supreme Court 18.” Before I do, I want to note that the inclusion of Mohammad, later became controversial because Muslims do not believe that Mohammed can or should be symbolized in any picture or artistic sculpture. Given this, in 1997, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) made a formal request to remove the statue. While acknowledging the court’s “positive intentions in the original artwork,” the group wrote that the statue was particularly inappropriate because its portrayal of the prophet holding a sword reflected stereotypes of Muslims as “intolerant conquerors.” In addition, the group objected to the fact that the literature about the frieze provided by the court called Mohammed the “founder” of Islam rather than stating that Muslims consider him to the last in a line of prophets.

Then Chief Justice William Rehnquist turned down their request, writing: “The depiction of Muhammad was intended only to recognize him, among many other lawgivers, as an important figure in the history of law; it is not intended as a form of idol worship.” He added that swords are used throughout the court’s architecture as a symbol of justice. Rehnquist did agree to change the information the court provided about the frieze to say that Mohammed was the prophet of Islam instead of its founder and also to note that the sculpture was “a well-intentioned attempt by the sculptor Adolph Weinman to honor Muhammad and it bears no resemblance to Muhammad. Muslims generally have a strong aversion to sculptured or pictured representations of their Prophet.” While this decision did not fully satisfy CAIR’s leaders, it doesn’t appear that they’ve raised the issue again, at least not in a highly visible way.

Stepping back and returning to the allegorical friezes, I want to acknowledge that, at best, such monumental sculptures are aspirational and at worst, they are a mix of propaganda and insensitive, pompous cant. But they’re still worth examining, particularly at this moment in time, when so many core values and institutions are under attack. So tonight, as the Republican convention is set to begin, here’s hoping that in the coming months the “Powers of Good”—Defense of Virtue, Charity, Peace, Harmony, and Security—can help Wisdom, Justice, Divine Inspiration, and Truth overcome the “Powers of Evil.” And here’s hoping that if, in the next few months, the nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court have to make some critical decisions, they look up and draw inspirations from carvings that are over their heads.

Be well, stay safe, fight for justice (and the other important virtues), and work for peace.

*****

Here’s a little bit more about the “Supreme Court 18,” the 18 Great Lawgivers of History who are portrayed on the Supreme Court’s north and south wall friezes.

1. Menes (c.3200 B.C.) First King of the first dynasty of ancient Egypt who is one of the first recorded lawgivers in human history.
2. Hammurabi (c. 1700s B.C.) King of Babylon, who known for the Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest known legal codes.
3. Moses (c. 1300s B.C.) Prophet, lawgiver and judge of who promulgated many of Judaism’s laws (and, of course, brought the 10 Commandments down from Mount Sinai).
4. Solomon (c. 900s B.C.) King of Israel and renowned judge whose name, which means “figure of the wise man,” has become synonymous with “judicial wisdom.”
5. Lycurgus (c. 800 B.C.) Legislator of Sparta, credited with being one of the reformers of Sparta’s constitution.
6. Solon (c. 638-558 B.C.) Athenian lawgiver who was instrumental in codifying and reforming Athenian law amd whose name has come to mean “a wise and skillful lawgiver.”
7. Draco (c. 600s B.C.) A predecessor of Solon, who created Athens’ first written code, which had many strict penalties and death sentences for what often seemed to be minor offenses (which explains the derivation of the word “draconian.”)
8. Confucius (551-478 B.C.) Chinese philosopher whose teachings became the basis for Chinese government, law and society for many centuries.
9. Octavian (aka Augustus) (63 B.C.-14 A.D.) First Emperor of the Roman Empire who supported the concept of using previous opinions of leading jurists to aid in determining how to adjudicate new disputes.
10. Justinian (c. 483-565) Byzantine Emperor who ordered the codification of Roman law and published Corpus Juris Civilis, which was instrumental in preserving Roman law and encompassed what became known as the Justinian Code.
11. Muhammad (c. 570-632) The Prophet of Islam, who is depicted holding the Qur’an, the primary source of Islamic Law.
12. Charlemagne (c. 742-814) or Charles I (the Great). King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, who was a reformer of legal, judicial and military systems.
13. King John of England (1166-1216) King of England from 1199 who was forced to sign the Magna Carta, which is regarded as the foundation of constitutional liberty and law in England.
14. Louis IX (c. 1214-1270) King of France who led the 7th and 8th Crusades and created the first court of appeals, which was known as the “Curia Regis” or the “King’s Court.”
15. Hugo Grotius (aka Huig de Groot) (1583-1645) Dutch scholar, lawyer and statesman who wrote De jure belli ac pacis (Concerning the Law of War and Peace), one of the first books on international law.
16. Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) English law professor and jurist who wrote Commentaries on the Law of England, which greatly influenced English and American law.
17. John Marshall (1755-1835) Fourth Chief Justice of the United States, who in a key early case ruled that the Supreme Court had the authority to determine the constitutionality of a law.
18. Napoleon (1769-1821) Emperor of France from 1804 to 1815, who ordered and directed the recodification of French law into what became known as the Code Napoleon or Civil Code, which formed the basis for modern civil law. Napoleon, at St. Helena, is reported to have said, “My glory is not to have won 40 battles; for Waterloo’s defeat will destroy the memory of as many victories. But what nothing will destroy, what will live eternally, is my Civil Code.”

As I wrote earlier, I knew about three-quarters of these people but, in about a third of those cases, I had no idea what they did to merit their inclusion in this “Lawgivers Hall of Fame.”